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HAITI

135 dead and 1500 sick in Haiti cholera outbreak

A cholera epidemic in northern Haiti has claimed 135 lives and infected 1,500 people, an official said Thursday amid concerns of a wider outbreak.

Cholera victims and their families at Saint-Marc clinic
Cholera victims and their families at Saint-Marc clinic AFP
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The epidemic has grown in the past few days but has not yet reached the major displaced persons camps in and around the capital Port-au-Prince, which was ravaged by a 7.0 earthquake in January that left 1.2 million people homeless.

Reuters

But officials fear an outbreak in densely populated tent cities that have poor sanitation and meagre medical facilities has the potential of unleashing a public health disaster.

Health officials said most of the deaths were along the Artibonite river that crosses the center and north of the country.

"Hospitals and medical centers in the region are overwhelmed and numerous deaths have been registered," said Gabriel Timothe, director general of the Haitian health ministry.

In Saint Marc's Saint Nicolas hospital, confusion and fear gripped patients and their relatives as many of the sick brought to the small facility were left on the floor because all the beds were taken.

Haiti is still struggling to rebuild after the devastating quake that killed some 250,000 people and left hundreds of thousands of people crammed into the makeshift tent cities throughout the ruined capital.

Many survivors had fled the city to live with relatives in other towns across the Caribbean nation of about nine million people, the poorest country in the Americas.

Aid agencies have voiced fears for months that any outbreak of disease could spread rapidly due to the unsanitary conditions in the camps where people have little access to clean water.

International agencies have swung into action, mobilising medical personnel to try to contain the spread of the disease and treat the sick.

"We are evaluating the situation on the ground with the international partners and the Haitian health authorities," said Fanny Devoucoux from the French aid organization Acted.

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