Hijjah 04, 1431, Nov 10, 2010, SPA -- The United Nations on Tuesday said 544 people have died from the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti and a further 8,138 people are in hospital after becoming infected with the disease. Haiti's health authorities have also confirmed that the outbreak has spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, where more than one million people are living in cramped camps after being made homeless by January's devastating earthquake. The capital had evaded the epidemic for weeks but flooding caused by Hurricane Tomas last week caused rivers to overflow and may have contributed to its arrival there. Although easily treated, the water-borne bacterial disease has a short incubation period, sometimes just a few hours, and causes acute diarrhea that can quickly lead to severe dehydration and death.
