Diarrhoea outbreak kills 54

Haiti (AP):

An outbreak of severe diarrhoea in rural central Haiti has killed at least 54 people and sickened hundreds more who overwhelmed a crowded hospital yesterday seeking treatment.

Hundreds of patients lay on blankets in a parking lot outside St Nicholas hospital in the port city of StMarc with IVs in their arms for rehydration. As rain began to fall in the afternoon, nurses rushed to carry them inside.

Doctors were testing for cholera, typhoid and other illnesses in the Caribbean nation's deadliest outbreak since a January earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people.

"What we know is that people have diarrhoea, and they are vomiting, and (they) can go quickly if they are not seen in time," said Catherine Huck, country deputy for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). She said doctors were still awaiting lab results to pinpoint the disease.

Significant damage

The sick come from across the rural Artibonite region, which did not experience significant damage in the January 12 quake but has absorbed thousands of refugees from the devastated capital 45 miles (70 kilometres) south of St Marc.

A total of 54 people died and 619 were ill, according to Yolaine Surena, a coordinator for Haiti's civil protection department.

Some patients said they drank water from a public canal, while others said they bought purified water. All complained of symptoms including fever, vomiting and severe diarrhoea.

"I ran to the bathroom four times last night vomiting," said 70-year-old Belismene Jean Baptiste.

Trucks loaded with medical supplies, including rehydration salts, were to be sent from Port-au-Prince to the hospital, according to Jessica DuPlessis, an OCHA spokeswoman. But doctors at the hospital said they needed more personnel to handle the flood of patients.