Cholera
Haiti Earthquake (2010-Now)
The Begining
In 2010, Cholera started started in Haiti, 62 miles North of the capitol. This happened ten months after an earthquake destroyed most of the country. Only ten weeks after it started, it had already spread to all ten of Haiti's provinces.
Cause
Most people, who got Cholera drank water from the Artibonite River. There was a UN military base on one of the rivers tributaries. Some people said the base dumped waste into the river. Samples were taken from the base, but they tested negative for Cholera. However, those tests were done incorrectly by people who had no experience in these kinds of tests. They finally decided that it came from Nepalese soldiers, but they still don't know how it got to the river.
Symptoms
- Rapid heart rate
- Loss of skin elasticity
- Inside of mouth, throat, nose, and eyelids become dry
- Low blood pressure
- Thirst
- Muscle cramps
Effects
By November of 2010, Cholera had spread to all of Haiti. Hospitals were so full that some people couldn't be treated. Later that month, it had spread to the Dominican Republic. In January of 2011, Venezuelans who visited the Dominican Republic got Cholera. Those people got sent to a hospital. At that time, there were 244 reported cases of Cholera in the Dominican Republic. By March of 2011, 4,672 people had died from Cholera, and 252,640 cases of it were reported. In March if 2012, there were 7,050 deaths caused by Cholera, and 5% of the population had the disease. By November 2013 there were 8,448 deaths.