Haiti’s President Rene Preval announced Friday that an outbreak of cholera had killed at least 138 people in the quake-hit country’s central region. He advised that his government was taking measures to try to stop the disease spreading.
“I can confirm it is cholera,” Preval told Reuters, as Haitian and international health officials confronted the poor Caribbean nation’s biggest medical crisis since the Jan. 12 earthquake.
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food, according to the World Health Organization. People who have it are at risk for dying of dehydration if their symptoms are not treated quickly.
Treatment includes doses of inexpensive oral rehydration salts, but the trick is getting them to those who need it.
Officials fear it could spread because tens of thousands of people are still living in unsanitary conditions in camps around the capital.
“We have been afraid of this since the earthquake,” Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor, told USA Today. The group was preparing to fly in donations of antibiotics, dehydration salts and other supplies.
Haiti hasn’t had an outbreak of cholera for decades, although Africa has had several, including one earlier this month affecting Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, WHO says.