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Disease ravages crisis-weary Haiti

Published:Thursday | November 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
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Antonine Fizamey (left), 47, wails in grief after her mother, Virginia Sencilna, 67, became gravely ill with cholera, which has spread into Gonaives, Haiti, from the surrounding areas. The disease has not been seen in the country for decades but has now killed more than 1,000 people. - MCT photos
Rosemane Saintelone holds the body of her two-year-old son, Sebien Saintelone, who died inside Au Secours Hospital in Gonaives, Haiti, after contracting cholera.
The family of Wislet St Juste, 31, carry his body more than a mile through the streets of Gonaives, Haiti, after he died from cholera, leaving behind a wife and two young children. As they made their way through the streets, some residents fled from the area as the body approached while others yelled angrily at the family for walking through their neighbourhood. Once they reached the morgue, the family lied about the cause of death in fear that they would be turned away at the door and their loved one would not be able to receive a proper burial.
A woman struggles to carry a cholera victim into the clinic in Mirebalais, Haiti, for treatment. Cholera has been spreading into a wider array of communities and could soon threaten the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince.
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Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (MCT):

With hundreds hospitalised for cholera in this quake-battered capital, the epidemic is spreading and has officially made its way into Haiti's largest city.

"We are on a rise," said Christian Lindmeier, spokesman for the World Health Organisation in Haiti. "The figures will climb."

The cholera death toll now stands at more than 1,000, and over 10,000 Haitians have been hospitalised with acute diarrhea, according to Haiti's health ministry.

The increase comes amid fears that flooding from Hurricane Tomas, which lashed the island two weeks ago, will trigger more hospitalisations and even more deaths from the illness that is spread by drinking contaminated water.

Haitian government health officials acknowledged that the epidemic is evolving and has not yet peaked.

"This is now a matter of national security," said Dr Gabriel Timothee, director general of the Ministry of Health.

Cholera is now present in half of Haiti's 10 geographical departments.

The spread of the disease to Port-au-Prince is worrisome because the overcrowded capital is not only home to most of the 1.5 million people displaced by the January 12 earthquake and still living in tents or under tarps but also to hundreds of thousands of other people living without access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation.

Among those who have become ill are 115 people who sought treatment at a hospital in Cite Soleil, a teeming slum in the capital, Timothee said. Officials say they are still awaiting lab results to see if the patients have cholera or another illness that causes similar symptoms.

Trying to keep it at bay

At least one of those who arrived at the Cite Soleil hospital has died.

Despite interviews with family members, health officials cannot say for certain the person did not travel to the lower Artibonite region where the cholera epidemic first broke out.

In recent weeks, health officials have been working hard to keep cholera at bay in Port-au-Prince.

"The increasing numbers of cases of suspected cholera in our facilities throughout Port-au-Prince are certainly alarming," said Stefano Zannini, head of mission for Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.

Haiti's health ministry, which was the first to acknowledge the cholera outbreak, has taken the lead on informing the public about the waterborne infection.

But the collection of data from several sources and the perception that all diarrhea is a sign of cholera has added to confusion about how many victims there are.

"There comes a point where trying to judge an epidemic by the numbers is misleading," said Imogen Wall, spokeswoman for the United Nations Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs.

"We know what this is. We know what it looks like. Those numbers are only the people who make it to hospitals and make it on to a statistical radar," she said.

"As we see some numbers rise, it doesn't necessarily, by itself, indicate that there is a significant increase in the number of cholera cases; only that the surveillance system that the Haitian government is employing with the support of the United States and international partners is actually improving," said P.J. Crowley of the United States State Department.

Zannini said while the government's continued public awareness campaigns on preventive measures are important, Haitians need to get immediate treatment at the first sign of illness.

Cholera treatment centres are key in affected areas.

But Haitians in some communities are wary.