Cholera outbreak in Haiti

Health authorities say they are trying to deal with the cholera outbreak in earthquake-ravaged country.



The first round of laboratory test results has revealed several confirmed cases of cholera, but the type of the disease is yet to be determined.



So far, the outbreak has not hit the capital, Port-au-Prince.



The Director General of the Haitian Health Ministry, Gabriel Timothe, says hospitals and medical centres in the regions are overwhelmed, and numerous deaths have been registered.



Officials had earlier reported that at least 50 people had died from acute diarrhoea, and hundreds were being treated in local hospitals.



Aid agencies have voiced fears for months that any outbreak of disease could spread rapidly because of the unsanitary conditions in the makeshift camps housing the homeless.