135 people dies from a disease outbreak in Haiti. In the past weekend 135 people have been killed in rural central Haiti, and hundreds more are overcrowding a hospital seeking treatment. Health workers suspected the disease is Cholera, but the results have not come back yet. Hundreds lay on blankets outside St. Nicholas hospital in the port city of St. Marc with I.V's in their arms waiting for their bodies to be re-hydrated. When the rain fell, nurses rushed out to carry the patients inside.
With the doctors testing for Cholera, Typhoid and other illnesses in the Caribbean nation's deadliest outbreak since the January earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people. "The Caribbean nation's health ministry has recorded 135 death and more than 1,000 people who are infected," Catherine Huck, deputy country director for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "What we know is that people have diarrhea, and they are vomiting, and (they) can go quickly if they are not seen in time," Huck she also stated the doctors were still awaiting lab result to pinpoint the disease.
Claude Surena, the president of the Haitian Medical Association said the cause appeared to be Chorea, but that has yet to be confirmed by the Government. Chorea is a waterborne bacterial infection spread through contaminated water. It causes server diarrhea and vomiting that leads to dehydration ad death within hours.
Some patients said they drank water from a public canal, while others said they bought purified water. All complains of symptoms including fever, vomiting and severe diarrhea. The U.S Embassy in Port-au-Prince issued an advising urging people to drink only bottled or boiled water and eat only food that has been thoroughly cooked.
When a disease such as this, runs ramped through a community what can be done? This global problem needs to bring attention to the aid being given to third world countries, and the prevention that should have been in place before. Do you think precautions should have been taken before this outbreak happened, and what should they have been?
www.abcnews.go.com/Health/wirestory?.id=11938808
2 comments:
I had never heard of this disease until I read your post. Thats awful that all those people are getting severely sick just from drinking contaminated water. Its so sad that clean water, something that we take for granted everyday, would be just what they need to keep people from catching the terrible disease.
I agree. This disease is easily 100% preventable. It's really sad to think that's all they need: clean water.
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