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Early Damage Reports From Haiti

 

 

 

 

# 5034

 

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Hurricane Tomas, now downgraded to a strong tropical storm, has passed Haiti and is headed out to sea.  Damage reports are still coming in, and so it will be difficult fully appreciate the impact of this storm for some time.

 

The Associated Press portal on Youtube has a short video showing some of the flooding one of the refugee camps.

 

 

 

Media reports list anywhere from 3 to 7 deaths directly from the storm, although that number could rise.

 

The greatest concern, now that the immediate threat of Tomas has passed, is how all of this (flooding, infrastructure damage, evacuation and sheltering of refugees) will affect the spreading cholera epidemic.

 

This report from IRIN humanitarian news and analysis  gives some sense of the scope of the problem:

 

Unarmed in the fight against cholera

ARTIBONITE, 4 November 2010 (IRIN) - A colourful cholera prevention poster in Haiti has images of smiling people getting water from a tap, a man using a sturdy latrine and people walking a sick boy to a health centre. But these vital tools for fighting the infectious bacterial disease are absent in most communities. full report

 

As we’ve seen with virtually every health crisis, the true number of people affected by this cholera outbreak is most certainly higher than reported.  

 

Some people will be infected and show no symptoms (but are still capable of spreading the disease), while others may display only mild illness.  Others live in remote areas, or for other reasons are unable to obtain medical care. 

 

These cases are generally never counted.

 

Even here in the United States – with a modern and intact medical infrastructure - we can only estimate the number of influenza cases, Lyme Infections, heart attacks, and strokes each year. 

 

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In areas where surveillance and reporting are seriously degraded, our ability to measure the toll of outbreaks like this is seriously compromised.

 

So the numbers reported on a daily – sometimes hourly – basis by the media should not be accepted as an actual count.  They do give us a sense of the spread, and growth of the outbreak.

 

Constant readers are aware that for several years, at least once a year I rerun a blog called The Rehydration Solution – which gives the history of lifesaving ORS, and a simple recipe for making it in your home out of sugar, salt, and potable water.

 

 

The simplest formula is 3 Tablespoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt, dissolved in 1 quart of potable water.

 

An alternative simple formula is 8 teaspoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt, dissolved in 1 quart of potable water.

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Last night the New York Times ran a compelling opinion piece on this exact topic.:

 

November 5, 2010, 6:57 pm

A Sugar and Salt Solution for Haiti’s Cholera Epidemic

By JOSH RUXIN

 

Josh Ruxin is the director of Rwanda Works and a Columbia University expert on public health who has spent the last few years living in Rwanda.

(Continue . . . )

 

As always, Crof at Crofsblog continues to carry the most complete coverage of the Haitian crisis in Flublogia.  His site is worth checking several times each day.

 

I’m still away from home, but expect to return by tomorrow night.  I should be back to a full blogging schedule by Monday.

Related Post:

Cholera
Haiti

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