HEALTH

Doctors Without Borders reports uptick in Haiti cholera cases

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, November 26, 2014 7:53PM EST

A young boy is held up by his father so that he can call the attention of U.N. officials as his father asks for economic assistance, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the launching of sanitation campaign in Hinche, Haiti, Monday, July 14, 2014. ( AP / Dieu Nalio Chery)

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- An international medical group says Haiti's health system still does not have the capacity to adequately treat cholera patients and its staff is seeing an uptick in cases.

Doctors Without Borders says more than 2,000 people with cholera symptoms have required emergency hospitalization in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince since mid-October. Oliver Schulz is head of mission for the group in Haiti. He says the numbers of cholera patients has gone up "very quickly" in recent weeks.

During a Wednesday visit, an emergency centre set up by Doctors Without Borders in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Delmas had some 50 patients receiving treatment.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti began in 2010. Scientific studies have shown it was likely introduced in Haiti by U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal, where the disease is endemic.