Cholera spreads in Haiti
The cholera outbreak that already has claimed more than 500 lives now has reached Haiti's capital, potentially endangering millions of people who live in Port-au-Prince.
Health officials said that tests have confirmed a 3-year-old boy who hasn't been out of the city had caught the disease. More than 100 others have cholera-like symptoms, many of them living in squalid conditions in the sprawling slum community of Cite Soleil."Now that it is in Cite Soleil, you can expect to see it just explode," said Dr. Kara Gibson, medical director for Samaritan's Purse in Haiti. "The hospital in that area is already at capacity. It has maxed out in a matter of a day, and there is just no other site."
Cite Soleil is one of the biggest slums in Haiti. It is an area plagued with deplorable sanitation and hygiene conditions, and where little has been done to prepare. Samaritan's Purse is responding by opening a new clinic in the area. Our medical personnel have already treated dozens of people with symptoms resembling cholera. We are deploying our staff and supplies to the clinic, and training Haitian doctors and nurses in the region how to prevent and treat cholera.
We also are scouting additional locations in and around Port-au-Prince to set up temporary clinics if needed. We continue to print and distribute thousands of health and hygiene pamphlets with information on how to prevent the spread of the disease, and are employing vans equipped with loudspeakers to disseminate prevention education messages.
Cholera had never been documented in Haiti before its appearance last month. In a little more than three weeks it is suspected of infecting tens of thousands of people. Officials are concerned that floods triggered by Hurricane Tomas from Friday and Saturday could exacerbate the spread of the disease, which is transmitted through consuming contaminated water or food.
WAYS YOU CAN HELP
PRAY:
This has the potential to become a catastrophic situation. Please pray for the people suffering from the disease, for our staff as they prepare to fight another front in the battle against the cholera outbreak, and that we would have enough personnel and supplies to effectively combat the disease.
GIVE:
Make a donation towards our Emergency Relief fund, and help us respond to emergencies in places like Haiti and other parts of the world.
