Tracking the source of cholera in Haiti

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Investigators are looking for the source of a deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti. Suspicion has fallen on a base housing United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal, where cholera is endemic. BBC’s Jill McGivering gives an update.Download MP3

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH in Boston. The outbreak of cholera in Haiti is spreading. Cases of the lethal disease have now been reported in two new areas of the country, in the north and in the northeast. So far, more than 300 people have died, and the number of reported cases is approaching 5,000. The source of the cholera outbreak remains a mystery. There had been no cases of the waterborne disease in Haiti for more than a century. As medical experts look into the matter, United Nations officials say they’re investigating one possible source, UN peacekeepers. The BBC’s Jill McGivering has been covering the story. And Jill, among the UN peacekeepers, who is being investigated?

JILL MCGIVERING:  Well, there’s one specific mission, which is a group of Napalese soldiers and they set up camp fairly recently. They’re the people that are being investigated partly because of their location. They seem to be in an area which is very close to a tributary that lead into the main body of water which is contaminated. And plus the fact that they came just a matter of weeks ago, some people are saying if we look at the environment and think well what’s suddenly changed, what might have introduced this threat, maybe it’s the Nepalese peacekeepers. I should say that the UN is being quite cautious saying that they don’t think that this is the source, but they are very conscience that the Nepalese camp have increasingly become the focus of suspicion and of discussion, and to an extant, possible anger in the area because this is quite a volatile issue. So I think they’re trying to address it head on and say okay, we’re investigating the allegations, but there isn’t any evidence yet. They are saying look, we have sealed septic tanks, we comply with the regulations, we use a local company to collect and dispose of our waste, so as far as we’re aware, we’re not doing anything we shouldn’t.

MULLINS:  Right, but there is a real problem with cholera in South Asia and you know that because you’ve covered this for years.

MCGIVERING: There’s no doubt, it’s endemic in Nepal. Last month in Katmandu itself, the capital of the country, there was a big outbreak of cholera and that had quite a lot of attention at the time because it caused deaths. So I think people are aware of that, then they see these Nepalese peacekeepers arriving, then they see that they have cholera and they’re making that connection. Whether it’s a medical connection we still don’t know.

MULLINS: Yeah, one would assume that the UN peacekeepers before they arrive from any country or into Haiti, that they would get full medical checkups before they’re deployed.

MCGIVERING: Absolutely. And I think also, of course, there are quite close rules and regulations about how they behave basic sanitation and also, as we say, the disposal of waste. And certainly the Nepalese are saying look, we comply with those rules, but there may be some suspicion because I think there certainly seems to be quite a volatile atmosphere at the moment with a lot of people in Haiti saying this is something that we haven’t seen within our lifetime. There’s been generations since we’ve had cholera. But some doctors I’ve spoken to have said, you know, they think that this theory of it being the Nepalese isn’t terribly likely and certainly some scientists have been saying to me, well, you can have this bacteria lying dormant for decades. That’s not unusual. It’s not improbably. And then when you have an opportunity in terms of it entering the human population, then it flares up again and it could again become endemic. That’s the concern.

MULLINS: Right. And possibly the earthquake might have also given the opportunity to any kind of disease like this, bacteria like this?

MCGIVERING: Exactly. And the whole disruption, I mean you have people who are malnourished, they are vulnerable, they’re away from their normal conditions, they’re living in difficult conditions and there’s greater pressure on the drinking water that’s available. So, think you put all those things together, plus of course the difficulty with medical facilities. And then when you add on the issue of cholera it’s making things all the more difficult.

MULLINS: Alright. The BBC’s Jill McGivering on the newest cholera outbreak in Haiti. Jill, thanks.

MCGIVERING: Thank you.

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