CHOLERA - HAITI: INCREASED CASES
Date: Wed 3 Nov 2010 Source: Agence France-Presse [edited] <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1091220/1/.html >
The death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic spiked to 442 on Wednesday, 3 Nov 2010, with 105 more deaths since Saturday and more than a 40 percent jump in new cases, officials said [from the last statistics reported on 29 Oct 2010 - Mod.LL].
Haitian health authorities reported that an additional 1978 people were hospitalized, raising the total number of cases to 6742. The developments, announced at a news conference here by Health Ministry official Jocelyne Pierre-Louis, reflected a surge both in new cases, which were up 41 percent, and deaths, which climbed 31 percent.
Meanwhile, hospitals have been overwhelmed by cholera cases despite intensive efforts to respond to a disease that aid groups fear could spread like wildfire if it reaches densely populated Port-au-Prince. Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by a devastating earthquake in January 2010 live in unsanitary camps in and around the city.
The WHO warned last week that the outbreak is far from over and Haiti should prepare for the "worst-case scenario", cholera in the capital.