Scenes of panic last seen in the aftermath of January's earthquake returned to Haiti yesterday as healthworkers confirmed that an epidemic of cholera that had struck the Artibonite and Central Plateau regions of the country had killed at least 194 people and infecting 2,364 more.
Hospitals in the mostly rural area, where tens of thousands of refugees are still living in camps after fleeing Port-au-Prince, are reported to be overwhelmed by patients suffering from acute diarrhoea, fever, and vomiting. Most of the dead are being killed by acute dehydration, sometimes a matter of hours after falling ill.
"I can confirm it is cholera," said Mr Preval, after the results of laboratory tests came through yesterday morning, adding that the highly-infectious disease could spread rapidly through ramshackle camps that house more than one million Haitians.
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