West Career and Technical Academy

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting.

Transmission is primarily through consuming contaminated drinking water or food. The severity of the diarrhea and vomiting can lead to rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Primary treatment is with oral rehydration solution and if these are not tolerated, intravenous fluids. Antibiotics are beneficial in those with severe disease.

The primary symptoms of cholera are profuse painless diarrhea and vomiting of clear fluid.[1] These symptoms usually start suddenly, one to five days after ingestion of the bacteria.

An epidemic cholera strain has been confirmed in Haiti, causing the first cholera outbreak in Haiti in at least 100 years.

The majority of cases have been reported in the Artibonite Departmente, approximately 50 miles north of Port-au-Prince, although the outbreak has spread to all areas of the country. Affected hospitals are strained by the large number of people who are ill.

Most travelers are not at high risk for getting cholera, but people who are traveling to Haiti should still take their own supplies to help prevent the disease and to treat it. Items to pack include A prescription antibiotic to take in case of  diarrhea Water purification tablets* Oral rehydration salts*

The outbreak of cholera was confirmed in Haiti on October 21, 2010.

For a cholera outbreak to occur, two conditions have to be met: (1) there must be significant breaches in the water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure used by groups of people, permitting large-scale exposure to food or water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae organisms; and (2) cholera must be present in the population. While it is unclear how cholera was introduced to Haiti, both of these conditions now exist.

Cholera can be treated by immediately replacing fluids and salts lost through diarrhea using oral rehydration solution. This solution is used throughout the world to treat diarrhea. Antibiotics may also be used to shorten the course and diminish the severity of the illness. However, they are not as important as receiving oral or intravenous rehydration therapy.

Touring a cholera clinic, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday hailed the news that the wave of cholera that has killed more than 4,000 Haitians since October is receding.

The number of new patients at the Cholera Treatment Center, managed by US government grantee Partners in Health, has been reduced by half to about 40 per day since the start of the epidemic, a State Department official said.

The death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic is 4,030, the Haitian health ministry said Thursday, while the number of cholera cases totaled 209,034 as of January 24.

Water filtration tanks that would provide orphans with clean water during a cholera epidemic have been stuck at Haiti's main port since Nov. 22, hostage to customs red tape.

Haiti's struggle to recover from last January's 7.0 earthquake has been hamstrung by a massive bottleneck at customs. To some, the culprit is corruption, and the solution is to grease the right palms to get products moving to their intended destinations.

Haiti has a culture of bureaucratic inefficiency that has been overwhelmed by a tidal wave of incoming charitable goods. The government defends the delays, arguing that some alleged donations are actually intended for sale but disguised as aid by opportunists who hope to maximize profits by avoiding Haiti's enormous import fees.

Three Haitian provinces were able to contain a cholera epidemic that has claimed almost 4,000 lives in the Caribbean island nation since October, the government said Tuesday.

The number of cholera patients has been reduced in the provinces of North, Northeast and Artibonite, although there were still a few new cases reported in some other parts of the nation, according to Public Health Minister Alex Larsen.

Latest official statistics showed that cholera had killed 3,927 people and affected 199,497 others, of whom 112,656 were hospitalized.