Hurricane Matthew Causes Cholera Outbreak in Haiti
The hurricane killed over 800 people
Hurricane Matthew has caused a cholera outbreak in Haiti, leaving people with another challenge after the storm devastated the island. The London Times reported:
In the coastal town of Port-Salut, which had been free of cholera for seven months, three cases were reported at the weekend as floodwater mingled with sewage and human and animal corpses, turning streets into breeding grounds for the disease. Its symptoms include diarrhoea, which can lead to dehydration and shock.
There have also been cases in the crippled towns of Port-a-Piment and Les Anglais, located on the Tiburon peninsula where the hurricane made landfall last Wednesday.
Six people died of cholera at a hospital in Randel, which is inaccessible by road and has no doctors. In Anse-d’Ainault another seven died.
Antibiotics kill cholera, but it can also kill a person within hours of contracting it. Aid workers must reach people as soon as possible:
“We are greatly concerned with the cholera outbreaks,” said Marc Vincent of Unicef. “Some of the outbreaks are in remote communities where we are only able to reach them by helicopter and roads are still inaccessible.
“We are all scrambling to get the necessary resources in place. Every day that passes, the threat increases. We don’t know what will happen. It is a race against time.”
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