Over 2,300 now dead from cholera in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Dec 14 (IANS/EFE) A total of 2,323 people have died and 104,614 have been sickened so far in the cholera epidemic besieging Haiti since mid-October, authorities said Monday.

According to figures supplied by the Public Health and Population Ministry, in the last three days 130 people have died from cholera around the country.

Since the outbreak began, 178 people have died in the capital and 748 in the northern province of Artibonite, where the disease was first noticed.

The epidemic has resulted in the hospitalisation of 50,923 people, while another 49,330 have received medical attention but were allowed to return home.

The numbers also show that the disease has been the most lethal in the southern province of Grand’Anse, where 129 people have died from among 391 confirmed cases.

A French medical study claims that the epidemic was sparked due to the draining into a river of human waste from an encampment of Nepalese soldiers who are members of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti, or Minustah.

–IANS/EFE