Bon Samaritan Orphanage

June 13, 2011

In March I helped set up a cholera clinic in City of  Soleil. They say it is the poorest most dangerous slum in the world.  It wasn't very busy but they were expecting it to get worse with the spring flooding. They were right. Cholera is way up again.

My friend, Dr. Godi started a new clinic in the mountains. He just had to get many more hospital beds to accomodate all the new cholera patients.

 Largely because Haiti's population was "immunologically naïve," initially the outbreak exhibited a 7 percent case-fatality rate -- among the highest recorded in recent history. Haitians are especially susceptible to cholera infection because of several factors, including the large numbers of people left homeless and displaced by the earthquake that have been living in rural areas or large rural slums, where the epidemic has been most severe.

A new study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard Medical School predicts that the cholera epidemic in Haiti this year will be far worse than United Nations' projections, which had estimated 400,000 cases of the diarrheal disease over the course of the epidemic.  So cholera isn't over and they are considering the vaccine for the nation but it would be so costly.

Haiti's disasters seem relentless.  We have to keep on helping. I just returned from Haiti but now I wonder if I should go back and work in the cholera clinic again. It is hard for me to stay home in my own comfort knowing so many need help!

When the first outbreak came and I was working at the cholera clinic in St Marc our cholera clinic patient load grew from 250 to over 500 patients in  just two days. A pastor and his wife with 6 children live way in the mountains and she developed cholera and was dead within 24 hours. Some patients need more than one IV. We started four IV's on a woman going into shock from dehydration. She was doing fine by the next day but would have surely died if she hadn't been in the hospital.

We need to pray for an answer to stop this deadly horrible cholera epidemic!  There is a vaccine but is it possible to vaccinate the whole country?  Professionals are predicting that there will be perhaps 779,000 cases of cholera -- between March and November this year alone.  So the need of medicine, health care workers and clinics are not over yet.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Ann left for Haiti on Sunday and is currently helping with the Cholera Outbreak.  The outbreak has claimed the lives of over 300 people so far.

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that causes a large amount of watery diarrhea. 

Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacteria releases a toxin that causes increased release of water in the intestines, which produces severe diarrhea.

Cholera occurs in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine.

People get the infection by ingesting contaminated food or water.

Info from: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Cholera