Haiti’s cholera cases approach 50,000 as preparations for polls continue – UN

Source: United Nations News Service
Date: 23 Nov 2010




23 November 2010 – The number of reported cases of cholera in Haiti is now approaching 50,000, but health experts have cautioned that the figure could be higher because data on the epidemic has not been received from some rural communities, a United Nations relief official said today.
Nigel Fisher, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, said that epidemiologists in the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) – the regional arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) – estimate that the number of cases could be as high as 70,000.
The death toll, as of yesterday, stood at 1,200, but the experts have said that the disease might have claimed as many as 2,000 people, with some fatalities in remote areas going unreported.
Speaking via a video link from the capital, Port-au-Prince, Mr. Fisher told a news conference in New York that PAHO epidemiologists have also revised their projections of the spread of the disease and now anticipate that cases could rise to 200,000 over the next three months. The experts had earlier estimated that the number of cases could rise to that figure in six months. "This epidemic is moving faster," Mr. Fisher said.