In Hurricane Matthew's Wake, Haiti Is Left to Face an Old Foe: Cholera Laura King - The Los Angeles Times
go to original October 14, 2016

Haiti faces cholera outbreak after Hurricane Matthew (CBS News)

In Haiti’s hurricane-battered southwest, the scene is repeated daily, hourly, moment by moment. A man, woman or child huddles in a crowded clinic or shelter, enduring a constellation of ominous symptoms: fever and vomiting, dehydration and diarrhea.

Across the storm zone, it’s a time of cholera.

The waterborne disease was a scourge even before Hurricane Matthew roared across the Tiburon Peninsula eight days ago. Cholera was inadvertently brought to the country in the wake of the disastrous 2010 earthquake by Nepalese United Nations peacekeepers, an act for which the world body only recently acknowledged responsibility.

The Caribbean country, the hemisphere’s poorest, now has one of the world’s highest cholera rates. Nearly 10,000 people have died from it since 2010, and more than 27,000 suspected cases have been reported this year. But prior to the storm, thanks to concerted public-health efforts, the number of new cases was beginning to level off in some areas, relief organizations say.

No more.

Flooded pit latrines, human corpses and animal carcasses have tainted water supplies in a wide swath of hurricane-hit locales. On the banks of contaminated rivers, children bathe and groups of women gather to wash clothes; many people lost almost all but what they were wearing when the storm struck.

Even those who are aware of the danger often are forced to use unsafe water for cooking and drinking; almost everyone is hungry and thirsty.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

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Related: After Hurricane Matthew, Here’s How to Help Haiti (Take Part)

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