Via Le Nouvelliste, which has temporarily ceased to publish on paper owing to the conditions in Haiti: Cholera: fifty deaths and more than 1,500 people hospitalized in Haiti. Excerpt from the Google translation:
After three years without any case of cholera in Haiti despite active research, the Ministry of Public Health and Population detected a first case a month ago, which signals the resurgence of this disease in Haiti. Known for its great contagiousness, helped by the humanitarian crisis that has plagued the country for more than two months, cholera is responsible for more than 1,500 hospitalizations and around fifty deaths, including 14 in the civil prison of Port-au-Prince.
Relegated to the background in the face of the multiple crises that dominate the news in Haiti, cholera continues its path, leaving in its wake more than a thousand patients and fifty people who died in less than a month.
"Anyone presenting with acute watery, profuse diarrhea, with or without vomiting, with or without dehydration, is considered a suspected case", according to the Department of Epidemiology, Laboratories and Research of the MSPP.
As of October 1, 2022, 2,274 people fit this case definition. Of these, 253 were confirmed by a positive culture for Vibrio cholerae or by epidemiological link, 1,642 were hospitalized, for a total of 52 deaths.
Still according to the latest MSPP bulletin published on October 26, 2022, 271 suspected cases and 14 deaths were counted in the civil prison of Port au Prince.
Two facts draw attention in the bulletin: "the distribution of cumulative suspected cases by age group and the distribution of cases by department."
More than 1,000 suspected cases have been listed among children under 15. A situation that continues to worry epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists.
A week ago, Dr. Jean William Pape illustrated the seriousness of the situation by informing that out of 79 patients seen in a ward at the Gheskio centers cholera treatment center, 54 were children.
“Among the children, we have 39 between 0-5 years old, in this age group we have 3 children with severe acute malnutrition and septic shock,” he revealed.
Pointing to insecurity and fuel shortages, Dr. Jean William Pape had advocated strengthening awareness campaigns and taking oral serum even before going to a cholera treatment center for suspected cases.
Another highlight of the epidemiological bulletin of the MSPP is the spread of cholera in 8 departments of the country. The North and South-East are the only departments absent in the distribution of suspected cases, tested and confirmed by the MSPP.
