With the five fatalities over the past week, cholera has killed a total of 76 people in the Dominican Republic since November, Xinhua quoted the Health Ministry as saying Friday. The number of suspected cholera cases has risen to 10,760 after 1,014 new cases were registered in the past week, it said. Most fresh cases were reported in the southern province of Elias Pina and on the outskirts of the capital Santo Domingo. The ministry said health authorities in Dominica were also checking 182 deaths to decide whether they were caused by the epidemic. As the rainy season has begun in Dominica, hot and humid weather has led to a sharp rise of cholera cases in the Caribbean nation. The ministry has tightened measures to prevent the spread of cholera and relevant diseases. The current cholera developed from a severe outbreak in Haiti last year, according to Dominican officials.
