At least 2,707 people have died from the cholera epidemic in Haiti, the country's Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) said Monday. According to the Dec. 18 statement from the authorities, since the cholera epidemic hit Haiti in mid-October, 128,251 people have been infected, 68,764 of whom were hospitalized. The epidemic has spread to 10 departments. The northeastern Artibonite department is the most affected, where 813 people have died, Xinhua reported. In the neighboring Dominican Republic, the deadly disease has affected 115 persons, Dominican Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez said, adding that there have so far been no deaths due to sound sanitary controls and rapid government intervention. Neither the Haitian authorities nor the international community has been able to find the origin of the cholera on this Caribbean island.
