Haiti, Cholera: It's In the Capital

"Haiti tests for cholera in Port-au-Prince"
Latin America & Caribbean, BBC News (November 8, 2010)

"At least 120 people in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, are being tested for cholera, health officials say.

"Doctors have told the BBC the disease is 'clinically' present in the city, but there is no official confirmation.

"The health ministry says 544 people have died in Haiti's latest cholera outbreak. About 8,000 are being treated in hospitals...."

The last I read, 'only' about one in ten people who came down with cholera in Haiti died from it. This won't wipe out everybody.

The cholera outbreak will, however, create a great deal of misery.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that some folks are trying to help.

I haven't checked all the links for charities in this list: but many - maybe most - should still be working:
"Haiti: About the Earthquake, Relief, and Related Topics"
(January 15, 2010)

---

Update (November 9, 2010)
Why such big letters? I didn't want folks to miss the link. ☺

Back to the original post.

---

I know: money isn't everything. But when you're collecting supplies and getting them to Haiti - and paying folks enough so that they can afford to drop what they're doing and work at helping Haitians put their country back together - money helps.

And yes, I've 'put my money where my mouth is.' I've had opportunities when my parish passed the hat, earlier this year.

Now, about Haiti and cholera: The BBC article reviews what folks in Haiti have been dealing with lately. Earthquake. Cholera. Hurricane. Floods. Mudslides. More Cholera.

It's a waterborne disease, so flooding in a country where a none-too-adequate infrastructure had been damaged by a major earthquake didn't help contain the outbreak. At all.

The Lemming will be back, with something a bit more cheery. Wouldn't take much.

Related posts:

• "Haiti: Cholera, Hurricane, But Otherwise in Rough Shape"
  (November 6, 2010)
• "Haiti, Nigeria, Cholera"
  (October 27, 2010)
• "Haiti: It's Cholera"
  (October 24, 2010)
• "Haiti: First an Earthquake - Now - Cholera?"
  (October 22, 2010)