Any Signs of Cholera?

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Scooter

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I just received this email from the CDC and wondering if the feet on the ground have heard anything about Cholera in the DR?

Title:*** Cholera in Haiti ? Why U.S. Clinicians Need to Care
Date:*** Wednesday December 15, 2010
Time:** 12:00 PM ? 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Call Number: ** 800-857-1754
Passcode:* ***** 5676778***********
Since October 2010 Haiti has experienced a severe outbreak of cholera- the first in more than 100 years.* Since then cases of cholera have been imported into the Dominican Republic and the United States. Although cholera is unlikely to spread significantly in the United States, more imported cases are likely to occur.* Since treatment of cholera may be life saving, clinicians in the United States should be able to recognize and treat cases of cholera.* Please join us for this informative COCA conference call where an update on the current cholera situation in Haiti, and the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of cholera will be discussed.
 
C

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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DR1 News has been following it closely:
DR: atypical case of cholera
Writing in Listin Diario, Doris Panteleon reports that the cholera epidemic in the Dominican Republic is not behaving as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the local Public Health authorities.
According to the report, the WHO estimate was that within the first 30 days after the first case was reported, the Dominican Republic would be facing between 5,000 and 20,000 possible cases of cholera, as has happened in many other countries. An outbreak on this scale would have serious effects on health and educational services, according to Percy Minaya, the regional consultant for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
The specialists are saying that no country has behaved like the Dominican Republic, since normally the first case appears and then a major outbreak. They cautioned that vigilance should not be lowered, because the actions by the authorities have worked in containing the spread of the disease. They stress that the precautionary measures must be kept in place, because a larger outbreak could occur at any time.
Several more cases of cholera were confirmed over the weekend, bringing the formal total to 32 cases. Two of the cases appeared in Hato del Yaque, one of the focus points, and another in Comendador, in Elias Pina, along the frontier, and another focal point of the disease. The other case was found in Loma de Cabrera in the border province of Dajabon, yet another focus point of the epidemic. The two cases in Santiago involved a 13-year old boy and a 63-year old woman. In Elias Pina, the victim was a 19-year old male and in Dajabon a 49-year old man.
The Public Health Ministry has instituted strict health surveillance in the whole country, according to El Nuevo Diario, especially in Santiago, and Elias Pina where most of the cholera cases have been found. Cholera has been linked to people consuming polluted water in Santiago and the border areas.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, one case has been reported in Dajabon, seven in Elias Pina, one in San Juan, one in Jimani, all border provinces with Haiti. Also one case in Mao, 14 in Santiago, six in Santo Domingo and one in Higuey.
For impact on travelers, see Dominican Republic Travel News - December 7, 2010
Click to expand...
 
D

Drperson

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Sep 19, 2008
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You have to ask yourself this

The DR government sends out pamphlets on cholera prevention into the campo. Most of the Dr is the campo. Many many people who live there are illiterate, and most don't have the money to buy drinking water or soap , or toilet paper. They use rivers for waste disposal , laundry, bathing , drinking water. Where the water is send into houses , it is sent via often broken plastic pipes , which when not sending water, are receiving it from low lying sewage areas. Do you rally think sending pamplets is an effective means of prevention, without providing clean drinking water , soap , and vacanninations?
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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Drperson said:
The DR government sends out pamphlets on cholera prevention into the campo. Most of the Dr is the campo. Many many people who live there are illiterate, and most don't have the money to buy drinking water or soap , or toilet paper. They use rivers for waste disposal , laundry, bathing , drinking water. Where the water is send into houses , it is sent via often broken plastic pipes , which when not sending water, are receiving it from low lying sewage areas. Do you rally think sending pamplets is an effective means of prevention, without providing clean drinking water , soap , and vacanninations?
Click to expand...

That not the only way the message is being spread. There are radio and TV messages, there are government workers going into educating....etc. Most Dominicans are a lot smarter about hygene than you give them credit for.
 
J

jrmirador@alumni.iu.edu

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very early this morning I read in a local newspaper that the Health Department had prohibited bathing in the Artibonite river. I read the article to my wife Altagracia, and we both laughed. I decided to quote the article, and now, noon, I can't find it. It's not the first time that local newspapers take back news printed in early editions.
 
Hillbilly

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Mirador, that article is in Diario Libre, and other papers...

Just this minute there is a sound truck outside telling me to wash veggies and hands...all part of the program.

Quite true that some of the more backward areas need serious help in healthy living but a lot of times they just don't listed...

So far the DR has been exceedingly lucky...

HB
Sorry: Listin : http://www.listindiario.com.do/la-r...prohibe-banarse-y-pescar-en-el-rio-Artibonito
 
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getthesenets

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This is a serious healthcare issue and people's lives and health are at risk merely because they share an island and border with a poorly run country where an outbreak has taken place.

Clearly people are tense, angry, and stressed.
 
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puryear270

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A great number of folks outside of Bani bathe not in the river but in the irrigation canal. In the areas where I drive, every time I pass - morning, noon, or afternoon - someone is bathing in three or four locations. I should point out that the irrigation waterway is concrete lined. Also, I frequently see folks carrying water from the waterway to their homes in buckets.

In some of these cases, folks theoretically have access to clean water, but they cannot afford to install pipes to bring water into their homes.

In some other places, especially around Paya, the water service to homes is inconsistent, and we can go days without water service. Many of us have installed tanks or cisterns, but those who cannot afford such are then forced to walk to the irrigation canal.

To respond to another post: literacy rates in many rural areas are not terribly horrible among children. Although they may not be able to read and comprehend a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, they probably could work through a health pamphlet, and would read that aloud to older folks who "cannot find their reading glasses".
 
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puryear270

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getthesenets said:
This is a serious healthcare issue and people's lives and health are at risk merely because they share an island and border with a poorly run country where an outbreak has taken place.

Clearly people are tense, angry, and stressed.

These things don't give you the right to keep going out your way to disparage Haiti. I grew up with plenty of DRs who are from en dehors....rural areas...and while their government was much better run than Haiti's....there were many parallels between their lives and the lives of some of the rural poor in Haiti. Just reality. Most of these people are well accomplished over here and they NEVER distance themselves from where they are from..not ashamed of themselves or their families. In fact ,knowing what it's like to be looked down by their own people, they reject a lot of the color and class "status" markers that exist in latin/caribbean culture.

I know VERY little about DR and even I'm aware of some of the pockets of poverty that exist over there. Fact that you surely know about them but would rather brush it under the rug and take shots at the overall bad conditions of Haiti is troubling.

I'm glad your genuine hatred for Haitians is made more evident day after day because I think more people are starting to see what was clear as day to me.


I expected to see a warning on this thread that said "stick to the topic...what does "you are confusing it with Haiti" have to do with the topic? but it never came.
it's a pattern here.
Click to expand...

getthesenets,

You and I have had some reasonable discussions on Haiti before (mostly you explaining and me learning).

When I first came to the DR in 1987, the socio-economic differences between Haiti and the DR was not as pronounced as it is now. Over the past 23 years, the DR has made progress in regards to infrastructure, literacy, and public health. Haiti, unfortunately, has not progressed as rapidly, and has been beset by natural disasters (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, epidemics) and political strife. Also, IMHO, the world community has been less willing to assist Haiti, and I must include my own USA in that assessment.

For most of us as individuals, the scope of suffering and stife in Haiti is too much for our human minds to fully comprehend. As a result, persons posting on this site sometimes make sweeping generalizations that would be better were they deleted rather than posted.

Nearly everyone who posts regularly on this forum wants what is best for Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Our intentions are good, even if our words are not well thought out. Please do not get defensive, but instead take the opportunity to attempt to educate us. By helping those of us who have a keen interest to understand, we can then help those who are only peripherally curious to understand.
 
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M

Matilda

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The census of 2002 Oficina Nacional de Estad?stica (ONE) :: Otras variables que se miden para evaluar la calidad de vida de las personas son: combustible para cocinar, tipo de alumbrado, abastecimiento de agua, eliminaci?n de la basura, servicio sanitario y fuentes de shows that only around 40% of people have water coming into their house either from an aquaduct or a well. The rest use taps in the street, water from trucks or the river. In my experience the water from rivers is a vital part of life in the campos, and for a fact in the Sierra de Bahoruco it is not only used for bathing and washing but also for drinking as it is far to far to get bottled water from the town, and no water trucks with drinking water drive up there.

matilda
 
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puryear270

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How many semi-relevant or non-relevant posts do we get before the thread gets closed?

We're going downhill quickly here, and I certainly find myself getting frustrated. (I had to delete five posts before I found the right words.)

People bathe in rivers here, they wash clothes in the rivers here, and they take water out of the rivers to their homes, no matter whether one particular person has seen it or not.

Now, about the situation with cholera here: where does it stand right now, is the public health campaign having any effect, and is that the reason that "the cholera epidemic is not behaving as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the local Public Health authorities"?
 
AlterEgo

AlterEgo

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puryear270 said:
How many semi-relevant or non-relevant posts do we get before the thread gets closed?

We're going downhill quickly here, and I certainly find myself getting frustrated. (I had to delete five posts before I found the right words.)

People bathe in rivers here, they wash clothes in the rivers here, and they take water out of the rivers to their homes, no matter whether one particular person has seen it or not.

Now, about the situation with cholera here: where does it stand right now, is the public health campaign having any effect, and is that the reason that "the cholera epidemic is not behaving as predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the local Public Health authorities"?
Click to expand...

Thank you for steering this back on topic.... my closing finger is getting itchy.

AE
 
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puryear270

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I've been out of contact for a few days, returning yesterday.

Have there been any fatalities in the DR from cholera?
 
D

Drperson

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Sep 19, 2008
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effective prevention in the Dr

I am personally very concerned. It is really important that the government provides effective programs that actually work at the grass roots level. I am sorry to say this , but in my opinion they need to provide free clean drinking water and soap if nothing else. Many people simply do not have the money to purchase it, and the conditions of the " town" water transportation system is not nearly 100% safe. In Canada we have a town in Ontario called Wakerton which had some problems to say the least. If you never heard of it you can google it. I remember speaking with an ex military person in Puerto Plata in Feb or March. He had worked in several other countries providing disaster aid. . He totally predicted what is going on now in Haiti . in the absence of abundant clean and accessible/free drinking water the result is inevitable..
 
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Mujermaravilla

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People in DR have been dealing with bad drinking water forever. This is not new. They boil it Y YA se acabo. No need to buy water or this or that. That is why there is such low incident of cholera right now. people are doing what they have been doing all along boiling the water.
 
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Drperson

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Sep 19, 2008
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boiling water

That is good news, and I am certainly not an expert on the traditions and customs there.
 
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