Dang Can Haiti Catch a Break....Outbreak?

Aid Groups Race to Stop Haiti Cholera Outbreak

Russ Jones

Christian Press

October 25, 2010

Just days after the devastating earthquake in January, most doctors I talked to in Haiti were already worried about the nation's drinking water. They told me access to clean water sources would dramatically impact the recovery. Now, for doctors like Tom Schott, the outbreak of cholera 60 miles north of Port-au-Prince has proved those concerns true.

"I'm not surprised about the outbreak," said Schott, an Irving, Tex.-based physician who volunteered at Mission of Hope Clinic following the earthquake. "I actually thought it would have happened sooner than now. It tells me that organizations have been doing a good job in prevention."

The rise of a deadly waterborne disease in St. Marc was only a matter of time, he says, given the lack of shelter and good hygiene. Schott says it is critical Haitians understand how they might contaminate their own water supply.

"People are defecating in the same water they are drinking and bathing in," said Schott. "I would expect something like cholera to breakout. There is only so much organizations can do until the behaviors of the people catch up with them."

Cholera has been virtually unheard of in Haiti since 1960. Nonetheless, the recent outbreak has already infected over 3,000 people and killed 250 more. Aid agencies predict the disaster will be far greater if reaches the heavily populated capital city.

The Start of an Epidemic

While it is not clear what caused the outbreak, most humanitarian aid experts are reluctant to connect the outbreak with the earthquake. Most agree, however, for cholera to exist, bad hygiene and sanitation have to simultaneously occur with people carrying the Vibrio Cholerae bacterium.

Epidemiologist Dr. Tom Wood, a director of program development for Samaritan's Purse and who is on the ground in Haiti, told Crosswalk.com the cholera outbreak could be linked to overpopulation in the rural central valley of Artibonite.

"There is a large displaced group of people who left Port-au-Prince after the earthquake and who now live in the epicenter of the outbreak," says Wood. "The water wasn't clean in the first place, but now this growth in population has made the contamination of the water supply worse."

Wood says flooding has pushed contamination into the Artibonite River. Samaritan's Purse teams of medical and emergency relief personnel are encouraging people who live on the river's banks - and depend on it for bathing and drinking - to boil the water before consumption.

"This cholera outbreak is moving quickly and the sick need care immediately," said Wood. "Right now our focus is to provide oral rehydration salts and IVs to the sick and prevent the disease from spreading with clean water and hygiene education."