Several people have already died due to cholera at the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, after it was also hit by strong earthquake many years ago.
Cases of cholera were reported while several were already dead after the Hurricane Matthew slammed Haiti in the recent days.
In the town of Anse-d’Hainault, seven people died of cholera, while another 17 cholera cases were reported in Chardonnieres on the south coast.
As of now, the Pan American Health Organization is already preparing for a possible surge in cholera cases in Haiti over the next several months due to water contamination.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cholera is a bacterial infection that can lead to potentially serious symptoms of water diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and muscle cramps. It is often spread through contaminated water or food, the incubation period of the disease can be as short as two hours, meaning it can move quickly through a densely populated area.
“Due to massive flooding and its impact on water and sanitation infrastructure, cholera cases are expected to surge after Hurricane Matthew and through the normal rainy season until the start of 2017,” the health organization said in a statement Thursday.
According to Holly Frew, an emergency communications manager for the humanitarian organization CARE, the hurricane has left many in Haiti “in utter shock and despair, not only have they lost their homes, their livestock, but some of them have lost family members.”
Frew added that while aid workers struggle to (–foul word(s) removed–)s the damage in the whole country, concerns are rising about a possible cholera outbreak.
She said that since the hurricane hit earlier this week, 20 new cholera cases have been reported in the southeast of the country. “We have a big shipment of hygiene kits coming in” to help prevent the disease’s spread, she said.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, a virulent cholera epidemic began that infected at least 470,000 people and left 6,631 dead.
For years prior the slamming of the hurricane, Haiti had been cholera-free, but now the infection is endemic in the country, infecting thousands every year.
The U.N. admitted earlier this year to partial culpability because of the role its troops played in spreading cholera after the earthquake.
As of this press time, the number of death toll due to Hurricane Matthew has soared to 877.