Haiti diarrhoea outbreak kills 50

story by the Australian/AFP

AN OUTBREAK of diarrhoea in Haiti has claimed at least 50 lives and hundreds are being treated in local hospitals.

"We have registered 51 or 52 deaths along the Artibonite river which crosses the centre and north of the country," doctor Arial Henry, director of the health minister's office, said.

According to local radio, most of the dead have been taken to hospitals in Saint-Marc, about 100km north of the capital.

Haiti is still struggling to rebuild after a devastating 7.0 earthquake ravaged the capital, Port-au-Prince, in January, leaving more than 250,000 people dead and another 1.2 million homeless.

Aid agencies have voiced fears for months that any outbreak of disease could spread rapidly among the population due to the unsanitary conditions in the makeshift camps housing the homeless, with little access to clean water.

The impoverished Caribbean nation has also been hit in recent days by severe flooding adding to the misery of those struggling to survive in the scores of tent cities now dotting the country.

"An investigation is underway to determine where this outbreak might have originated and analyses are being carried out in the national laboratory in Haiti," Dr Henry added.

"Some people died in their homes in the Artibonite region and in central Haiti and several hundreds have been hospitalised and are under being monitored," another official added.