**First Confirmed Case: Cholera SPREADING To Domincan Republic**

November 16, 2010


Authorities in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday reported their country's first confirmed case of cholera in Higuey, near the tourist mecca of Punta Cana.

The man was a Haitian citizen who had recently returned from a 12-day trip in neighboring Haiti. The news alarmed Dominicans, but health officials say the spread of the disease is easily prevented with good hygiene and sanitation. No locally originated cholera cases have been reported.

The Haitian government said Tuesday that the cholera outbreak that began last month has killed more than 1,000 people.

Haiti's police chief, the health minister and other Cabinet officials on Tuesday headed to Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city, in hopes of quelling violent protests against U.N. peacekeepers accused of spreading the disease. Protesters erected barricades of flaming tires and other debris and clashed with U.N. troops. At least two demonstrators died, one of them shot by a member of the multinational peacekeeping force that has been trying to keep order since 2004.

[link to www.npr.org]

Last Edited by TXGal4Truth on 11/16/2010 07:52 PM