After more than three years without a single confirmed case of cholera, Haiti is confirming the deaths of at least eight people from the deadly waterborne disease.
The deaths were confirmed to the Miami Herald by an official in the government Sunday, just hours after the United Nations confirmed there was an outbreak in the Caribbean nation where weeks of ongoing civil unrest may have left Haitians vulnerable to a resurgence of the disease.
Preventing the spread of cholera requires hand washing with soap and clean water. But this is increasingly complicated in Haiti where water is becoming more scarce. On Sunday, as officials confirmed the presence of the disease, the country’s leading supplier of potable water, Caribbean Bottling Company, announced that it had run out of diesel — and cannot produce or deliver clean drinking water. The shortage is the result of a gang blockade of the country’s main fuel terminal, Varreux, that is now headed into its third week.
