Via KCRG.com: Baby Treated at UI Hospitals Dies After Return to Haiti. Excerpt:
Surgery changed the outlook for a Haitian baby brought to the United States by an Iowa City couple, but it was a common disease that took the little girl’s life at home.
Bedica Ermilus likely died of cholera after being returned to her family in Haiti, said Dr. Christopher Buresh, 36, an emergency physician at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics who made arrangements for the then 3-month-old girl’s surgery at UI Children’s Hospital in March.
“It’s been really hard,” Buresh said Wednesday night. “We’ll never really know what it was.”
Bedica became ill with a fever, vomiting and diarrhea just days after returning to Haiti. Despite efforts of community health workers and her family, she died May 17 at nearly 5 months old.
Cholera, which causes diarrhea and dehydration, can spread by drinking contaminated water or eating contaminated food. The bacterial disease is rare in the United States, but an outbreak that started after Haiti’s earthquake in 2010 saw an upsurge this spring.
“Babies are really susceptible to it,” Buresh said. “What’s sad is the same day she died, I bet there were 500 or 1,000 other babies who died of the same thing.”
