Cuban Doctors Lower Cholera Lethality Rate in Haiti

Havana, Cuba, Mar 30.- Cuban doctors working in Haiti have been able to bring cholera lethality down to 0.37 with no deaths from the disease reported in more than two months.

As a result of preventive measures adopted by the Cuban Medical Brigade, who have assisted more than 76,600 people suffering from cholera in the neighboring country so far, the number of cases has been gradually reduced, Granma newspaper reported, noting that on March 26, only 40 new cases were reported,said Granma.  

According to Gonzalo Estevez, the second in charge of the brigade, said Cuban specialists are leading control actions even in the farthest communities of the country, where they test the water for cholera and talk to locals on how to prevent the disease.

Estevez Torres told Granma said in the event of new outbreaks of cholera the brigade implements local measures to prevent the transmission of the disease.  

The Cuban doctors are distributed in 156 health centers across the nation, 67 of which are part of a joint program with Venezuela.

The work of the Cuban medical brigade in Haiti has been commended by local authorities and leaders of other nations, as well as by international organizations.

In a report by Prensa Latina dated March 18, Haiti’s ex-President Jean Bertrand Aristide was quoted as saying in Spanish: “Who knows how many people could have died without their [Cuban doctor’s] help!” “May their light reach others!” Bertrand Aristide made the statement upon returning to Haiti from after been on exile in South Africa for several years.(ACN)

Haiti Cholera Epidemic Could Sicken 779,000 This Year .

     New estimate much higher than U.N. projections, which were used to allocate resources

TUESDAY, March 15 (HealthDay News) -- The cholera epidemic in Haiti this year will be far worse than the 400,000 cases predicted by the United Nations, new study findings indicate.

There could be nearly twice as many cases of the potentially deadly diarrheal disease -- an estimated 779,000 -- between March and November of this year, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and Harvard Medical School.

The discrepancy is important because U.N. projections determine the allocation of resources to fight the disease, said the authors of the study, published March 16 in The Lancet.

"The epidemic is not likely to be short-term," Dr. Sanjay Basu, a UCSF medical resident, said in a university news release. "It is going to be larger than predicted in terms of sheer numbers and will last far longer than the initial projections."

The cholera epidemic erupted in Haiti after last year's devastating earthquake. Cholera -- spread from person-to-person through contaminated food and water -- can be deadly if untreated. In most cases, treatment for the diarrhea caused by the disease involves rehydration with salty liquids.

Late last year, the U.N. projected that a total of 400,000 people in Haiti would eventually become infected with cholera. They reached that total by assuming that cholera would infect 2 to 4 percent of Haiti's population of 10 million. But the U.N. estimate did not take into account existing disease trends, or factors such as where water was contaminated, how the disease is transmitted, or human immunity to cholera, Basu said.

Basu and colleague Dr. Jason Andrews, a fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, used data from Haiti's Ministry of Health and other sources to develop a more sophisticated model of the spread of cholera in several provinces in Haiti.

That led to their predictions of 779,000 cases of cholera and about 11,100 deaths in the next eight months.

The researchers also examined the impact of making clean water more available and the use of vaccines or antibiotics. They found that a 1 percent decrease in the number of people who drink contaminated water would prevent more than 100,000 cases of cholera and about 1,500 deaths this year.

In addition, simply offering vaccination to an estimated 10 percent of the population could save about 900 lives, and more widespread use of antibiotics could prevent 9,000 cases of cholera and about 1,300 deaths.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about cholera.

-- Robert Preidt

Cholera epidemic in Haiti may exceed UN projections: Study

The cholera epidemic in Haiti will exceed UN projections, reveals a new study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Harvard Medical School.

The United Nations' has estimated that there will be 400,000 cases of diarrhoeal disease over the course of the epidemic. But, the study, to be published in the journal Lancet, predicts that the number of cases may double and reach upto 779,000 between March and November this year.

"The epidemic is not likely to be short-term", "It is going to be larger than predicted in terms of sheer numbers and will last far longer than the initial projections," The Eureka Alert quoted UCSF medical resident Sanjay Basu, as saying.

Basu, who conducted the study with Jason Andrews, a former UCSF resident, said that three public health interventions must be used by the authorities to curtail the epidemic .People must be provided clean water, vaccination and proper antibiotics.

Analysis suggests that antibiotic treatment can be the most effective way to save thousands of lives in Haiti.

According to Basu, the high cost of the antibiotics makes it difficult to ensure its access to the people.

Earlier, no cases of cholera were registered in Haiti, but due to the devastating earthquake in 2010, the disease has emerged as a major epidemic.

Last year, between October and December nearly 150,000 people in Haiti suffered from cholera, and over 3,000 people had died. (ANI)

Haiti cholera 'far worse than expected', experts fear

The cholera epidemic affecting Haiti looks set to be far worse than officials had thought, experts fear.
Rather than affecting a predicted 400,000 people, the diarrhoeal disease could strike nearly twice as many as this, latest estimates suggest.
Aid efforts will need ramping up, US researchers told The Lancet journal.
The World Health Organization says everything possible is being done to contain the disease and warns that modelling estimates can be inaccurate.
Before last year's devastating earthquake on the Caribbean island, no cases of cholera had been seen on Haiti for more than a century.
The bacterial disease is spread from person-to-person through contaminated food and water.
It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and patients, particularly children and the elderly, are vulnerable to dangerous dehydration as a result.
Gross underestimateIn the three months between October and December 2010, about 150,000 people in Haiti contracted cholera and about 3,500 died.
Around this time, the United Nations projected that the total number infected would likely rise to 400,000.
But researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, say this is a gross underestimate.
They believe the toll could reach 779,000, with 11,100 deaths by the end of November 2011.
Dr Sanjay Basu and colleagues reached their figures using data from Haiti's ministry of health.
They say the UN estimates were "crude" and based on "a simple assumption" that the disease would infect a set portion (2-4%) of Haiti's 10 million population.
Dr Basu's calculations take into account factors like which water supplies have been contaminated and how much immunity the population has to the disease.
They predict the number of cholera cases will be substantially higher than official estimates.
"The epidemic is not likely to be short-term," said Dr Basu. "It is going to be larger than predicted in terms of sheer numbers and will last far longer than the initial projections."
But the researchers say thousands of lives could be saved by provision of clean water, vaccination and expanded access to antibiotics.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization said: "We have to be cautious because modelling does not necessarily reflect what's seen on the ground.
"Latest figures show there have been 252,640 cases and 4,672 deaths as of 10 March 2011.
"We really need to reconstruct water and sanitation systems for the cholera epidemic to go away completely.
"It's a long-term process and cholera is going to be around for a number of years yet."

By Michelle RobertsHealth reporter, BBC News