Haiti’s cholera death toll rises to 136 as outbreak gets ‘worse and worse every day’
Haitians have reported 136 new cases of cholera – the worst outbreak in the world since the disease devastated Haiti back in 2010 – in the latest day of the country’s worst-ever cholera epidemic.
More than 5,000 have already been infected and 18 have died. The death toll has climbed since the outbreak began in February, when a cholera patient was found dead in a hospital.
Officials said the death toll had climbed to 136, up from 120 this week.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 6,914 cases of cholera, including the death of a 24-year-old man who was infected with the disease in New York City.
While the U.S. remains the biggest source of cholera cases in Haiti, it has been overtaken by Italy and Ecuador, where cases have now risen to 6,982 and 6,050 respectively.
Haiti’s health ministry said doctors treating the patients in Port Au Prince were being moved, and that the epidemic has “a terrible face.”
“We have already counted over 100 people who have already died in the epidemic in Port [Prince],” said chief medical officer Dr. Jacques Bachelet, quoted in the Haiti Guardian newspaper.
“The situation in Port is so grave, that we can no longer treat the people we are going to move.”
The number of people registered as sick with cholera in Port Au Prince had jumped from 40 at the end of last week to 130 by Tuesday.
In a statement, Health Minister Jean-Louis Tardif said the ministry is considering two plans for the treatment of cholera in Haiti: sending in medical teams from the United States or France, or creating a separate treatment centre in Port Au Prince.
“We are considering these two methods, but they can be used only when the number of cholera patients in Port [Prince] is higher than 150,” he said, adding that the current population in Port Au Prince
