A dangerous and expanding cholera outbreak in the department of Artibonite has turned into an epidemic.  In order to aid those both infected and non-infected, MOSCTHA-HAITI has dispatched a medical team to Artibonite with the hope of curing those infected and preventing further spreading to other parts of the country.  We also made a visit to one of the hospitals (St Nicholas) with the largest number of infected patients, 2,500 of the 4,300 infected according to official reports.  For this reason we have focused our efforts around this hospital by handing out such medicines as: oral rehydration formulas, clean syringes, aspirin, PUR water treatment tablets, and other supplies.

We have also been in contact with doctors at the hospital about how the outbreak began.  According to them, in early October patients began to arrive with symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea and they were not aware that it was due to cholera.  Only on October 12 when a large amount of infected patients sought care did they begin to draw samples to analyze what was occurring.  Once tested, the samples came back positive for cholera and public health officials were quickly alerted.

According to Dr. Colin, the cases did not originate from the city of Saint-Marck, but instead far-off communities where people live close to the river and do not have access to potable water or information on how to use the water that comes from the north river.  Moreover, he informed us that with the help of organizations working to stem the outbreak, they have been able to better control the outbreak in the center.

With the information at hand given to us by Dr. Colin, we went to one of the far-off communities named Lester where people live close to the river and use the water to clean and drink.  Upon our arrival we carried out a workshop on safely treating water with Pur tablets and taught local citizens how to properly wash local fruits and vegetables.  We have been very well received and were asked to return with more Pur tablets.

In our opinion, we believe both far-off communities like Artibonite and main communities like Saint-Marck and Port-au-Prince need a prevention campaign on cholera.  Even though medical officials assure us that none of the cases originated in Saint-Marck, we still believe that the entire population has to be sensitized on the risks and symptoms of the disease since there is still a serious lack of knowledge on the epidemic.