Cholera to affect nearly 1 million Haitians

A cholera victim in Haiti

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170247.html

A recent report says that near one million people in Haiti may contract cholera in 2011, a figure nearly twice the number estimated by the United Nations.

On Wednesday, the The Lancet published the report, saying that up to 800,000 Haitians will be exposed to the disease in 2011, AFP reported.

Researchers believe that as many as 779,000 cases and 11,000 deaths from cholera will occur in Haiti between March 1 and November 30 this year, adding that having an access to clean water, oral vaccination and antibiotic could save thousands of lives.

The report refutes the previously released estimates, stressing that they have solely been based on assumptions.

In Haiti, which has yet to recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake that killed 250,000 people and left the capital in ruins, the cholera epidemic that hit the country five months ago has claimed the lives of nearly 4,600 people so far.