Hijjah 06, 1431 H/Nov. 12, 2010, SPA -- A cholera epidemic in Haiti has claimed 724 lives and placed an estimated 200,000 people at risk, the United Nations said Friday, in an appeal for 163 million dollars in donor aid. Over 11,000 Haitians have been hospitalized since an outbreak was reported in an area north of the capital Port-au-Prince. The city's hospitals were being overrun by people showing symptoms of the contagious disease, dpa quoted medics as reporting. According to the latest strategic plan drawn up by the UN and health authorities in Haiti, up to 200,000 people may end up showing symptoms of cholera. Medics in the earthquake-ravaged country on Friday expressed concerned that they would soon have to treat cholera patients in unhygienic conditions. "It's a really worrying situation for us at the moment," a doctor from Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) said. "All of the hospitals in Port-au-Prince are overflowing with patients and we're seeing seven times the total amount of cases we had three days ago." At a hospital in Cite Soleil, a slum located in the north of the capital, MSF recorded that 216 cases of cholera arrived on Thursday, nearly 10 times as many as earlier this week. "If the number of cases continues to increase at the same rate, then we're going to have to adopt some drastic measures to be able to treat people. We're going to have to use public spaces and even streets," medic said. The UN said the largest chunk of donor funding, some 89 million dollars, would be used for sanitation and hygiene. Cholera is generally contracted through contaminated water and causes severe diarrhea and vomiting, which may be fatal if not treated by medics quickly with re-hydration methods. UN officials said they are expecting an increase in patient loads as the disease spread continues. "Cases are expected to appear in a burst of epidemics that will happen suddenly in different parts of the country," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in statement. "Epidemiologists anticipate that the outbreak will continue to spread throughout the country and resources will need to be mobilized for at least six months," according to OCHA. A cholera outbreak was reported first in an area north of the capital last month. The disease has since spread across the earthquake- ravaged country, gaining a foothold recently in the capital Port-au-Prince. In January, Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, was hit by a massive earthquake which killed over 220,000 people and made over 1.5 million homeless. The country is only beginning to recover from the disaster, but most of the displaced still live in overcrowded camps.
