OUTBREAK

Cholera Surfaces in Port-au-Prince

Disease has already killed 250 across Haiti.

A potential cholera epidemic has now reached Haiti’s capital city, with the United Nations reporting five cases in Port-au-Prince. The outbreak—Haiti’s first in a century—has already killed more than 250 people across the country, mainly in the central plateau region of Artibonite. More than 3,000 cases have also been reported. The U.N., however, said that the five cases in Port-au-Prince had been isolated and the individuals were receiving treatment. Health officials are now particularly wary of cholera, a water-borne disease, spreading through the city’s tent camps where millions have been living since last January’s earthquake. "Obviously, preventing the disease spreading to the city is an absolutely paramount concern right now," a U.N. spokeswoman said. She added that Haiti currently has enough antibiotics to treat 100,000 cases and enough intravenous fluid to handle 30,000.