Thursday, 19th September 2024

Haiti sees major drop in cholera cases

Monday, 8th May 2017

The number of cholera cases reported in Haiti up to April 2017 is significantly lower than then the previous years, a report from the Pan American Health Organization has said.

A total of 4,871 suspected cholera cases were reported in Haiti, including 69 deaths to date.

This represents a 60% decrease compared to the 12,373 cases in 2015, and a 61% drop against 2016 numbers.

Over the same period in 2015 and 2016 there were 116 and 139 deaths, respectively.

All 10 of the country's administrative divisions have reported suspected cholera cases, with Centre, Ouest (which includes the capital city, Port-au-Prince) and Nippes with the highest number of cases.

Cholera is an acute infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.  It has a short incubation period, ranging between two hours and five days.

The cholera outbreak began in October 2010, months after the 12 January earthquake.

Since then 800,665 cases have been reported, with 9,480 deaths.

People with low immunity, such as malnourished children or people living with HIV, are at greater risk of death if infected.