Efforts to find Source of Cholera Contamination in Haiti

Photo: PBS.org

MINUSTAH has denied reports that its Mission officers are behind the outbreak of Cholera. However, the Head of the Haitian Ministry of Health, Dr. Alex Larsen has announced on the airwaves in Haiti, that the disease is imported and the Artibonite River is contaminated by external elements.

According to Dr. Larsen the source of the outbreak might possibly be traced to "citizens of countries where the germ is currently... " He cited, "among others, Latin Americans, Africans and Asians."

This is an extremely virulent disease that kills quickly but with care and time one can avoid death, he said.

Senator Yuri Latortue has asked for an investigation into the origin of the disease.

The MP believes that the Nepalese soldiers might not be innocent since, he said, they used to throw their excrement in the Artibonite River. The parliamentarian noted that Nepal is a country where this germ exists.

We need a thorough investigation, "said Yuri Latortue, noting that there are people who are willing to testify. We must fix responsibility and take action to prevent the disease spreading across the country," he said.

Haitian authorities, the local St. Marc community, and MINUSTAH have focused on the Nepalese post in Mirebalais, where residents have reported that the Nepalese soldiers, own a septic tank that discharges fecal matter in a river area that represents a branch of the Artibonite River.

On Radio Fm Scoop on Saturday, some residents of the area have detailed that every time the septic pit fills up it flows into the Artibonite River, particularly if it rains. MINUSTAH and a private contractor are responsible for cleaning the toilets.

Residents say that people who live on the side of Peligre, slightly above the base of Nepali soldiers, feel no discomfort, while those who live below the base have pruritus on their bodies and those who eat fish are victims of this epidemic.

A MINUSTAH spokesperson indicates that "7 septic tanks, constructed in closed circuit, serving the military base and meet the construction standards of the Agency for Environmental Protection (EPA)." She explained these septic tanks are emptied weekly by four trucks from MINUSTAH's private contractor.

MINUSTAH claims that "The landfill site used by the company, has obtained permission from the mayor of Mirebalais. It is 250 meters from the river Meille, "which represents more than 20 times the distance required at international level."

According to AP, "Lochard, the mayor, said he had told Nepalese officers not to place the landfill sites in that location but never received feedback from peacekeeping headquarters in Port-au-Prince."

The charge by Haitians that the Nepalese base is the source of the outbreak is being denied by MINUSTAH in a statement, but radio solidarite haiti (AHP) reports that "Authorities" indicate that the theory of "import" of the cholera epidemic is not excluded.

On Wednesday of last week "U.N. investigators took samples of foul-smelling waste trickling behind a Nepalese peacekeeping base toward an infected river system," so the Nepalese battalion base in Mirebalais is being investigated as a source of the cholera outbreak.

Adding further to the hurt caused by the outbreak is the closing of the Dominican border to Haitian merchants. Protests have occurred at the site of the Massacre River crossing separating the two countries.

"Only Haitians carrying legal documents are entitled to travel across the border," said Rafael Salas for his part, Provincial Director of Health of Dominica.

The WHO recommended that the border remain closed. The spokesman for the World Health Organization Fadela Chaib said, "It is our recommendation for any outbreak of cholera in any country."

A serious investigation by an independent authority must be carried out, in order to find the truth about the real cause of the deaths of 305, with 4.649 hospitalized as of Oct. 28.

It is important that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) explain (if it is found to be the case) why its standards of septic tank construction at military bases are so inadequate as to leak into a river and contaminate it with toxic sewage that has resulted in a deadly epidemic propagating through the Haitian population, which has been free of cholera and never had this most lethal deadly form of the cholera bacteria. Haiti has not seen a case of cholera in at least 60 years.

Cholera is pandemic in much of the world but almost unheard of in the Western Hemisphere. It is endemic to Nepal, which suffered outbreaks this summer. A recent article in the Japanese Journal of Infectious Diseases about outbreaks in 2008-09 said the strain found by researchers was "Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa biotype El Tor."

That is the same strain that has been identified in Haiti, epidemiologist Eric Mintz of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the AP. But he cautioned that strain is common and description too general to be a "smoking gun" that would identify the strain's country of origin.

--Jonathan Katz, AP (10.27.2010)

UPDATE 10.30.2010:

Tracking The Origins Of Haiti's Cholera Strain : Shots - Health News Blog : NPR

"... John Mekalanos, chairman of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School, disagrees [with the CDC]. He and other Harvard researchers plan to get a much more fine-grained picture of the Haitian strain, down to its genetic sequence.

Mekalanos says he has "no doubt" that detailed genetic analysis will reveal "with some certainty" whether the Haitian strain was introduced from somewhere else — and most likely, where.

First, the Harvard scientists have to get it. But then it should take only a couple of weeks to sequence the Haitian strain, and get closer to solving the mystery."

________________

A tanker truck deposits excrements from the Nepali UN base in ... (10.28.2010)

UPDATE 11.04.2010:

The CDC said they may never determine the source of cholera in Haiti. Did the Harvard scientist standing by to test the strain have something to do with their rapid progress to a conclusion?

Haiti's cholera strain likely came from South Asia, CDC says

www.msnbc.msn.com

The cholera strain causing the current outbreak in Haiti is most similar to cholera strains found in South Asia, according to lab reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [...]

__________________________

Sources:

Haïti-Choléra : Le Ministre de la santé devant la commission santé du Sénat

MINUSTAH denies rumour that it spread cholera in Haiti

Haiti Cholera #5

Haiti Cholera #6

The Associated Press: UN probes base as source of Haiti cholera outbreak

Dominican Republic Seals Border With Haiti

Choléra en Haïti: le nombre des decès augmente au fil des jours: le directeur général de la santé publique affirme que les autorités sanitaires n’ont aucun intérêt à cacher les vrais chiffres

English translation:

Cholera in Haiti: the number of deaths is increasing day by day: the Director General of Public Health says that health authorities have no interest in hiding the real numbers

La MINUSTAH nie toute responsabilité dans l’apparition du choléra

Haiti's case against the UN for importing cholera epidemic

Are Vulnerable Haitians the Victims of Kissinger's "Useless Eaters" Policy?

The role of the Bush administration in the cholera outbreak in Haiti.

“In 2000, a set of loans from the Inter American Development Bank to the government of Haiti for water, sanitation and health were blocked for political reasons. The city of St. Marc (population 220,000) and region of the lower Artibonite (population 600,000) were among the areas slated for upgrading of the public water supply. This project was delayed more than a decade and has not yet been completed."

--Partners in Health (PIH) 10.22.10

There is updated information about the cholera outbreak at Haiti: Operational Biosurveillance, including a Current Situational Map of the cholera epidemic.

The good news is there have been no new patients admitted at the Port-au-Prince General Hospital in the past twenty-four hours. Particularly good is that Haitian authorities, moving quickly, have debunked the rumor of an antibiotic resistant strain of cholera. The bad news are warnings of the possible under reporting of cases of cholera. Also, Nigel Fisher, UN Humanitarian Coordinator, cautioned about the possibility of a nationwide spread of the cholera epidemic and the need for readiness if it occurs.

The question often asked is, why are the quake victims still living in unsanitary and dangerous tent camps ten months after the disaster? Why hasn't Haiti received the aid that was pledged?

First, the issue is hardly ever addressed that very little direct aid is ever given to the Haitian government. Secondly, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is not the lone culprit holding up most of the aid to Haiti.

One journalist Robert Naiman is mistaking Jon Stewart for a real journalist in this article, but he does point out that fact.

In fact, it is U.S. foreign policy as implemented by Secretary Hillary Clinton's State Dept, that is holding up the $1.15 billion aid to Haiti. Senator Coburn is only partially to blame. He evidently put a "secret hold" on $500 million in aid because he "objected to a minor provision in the legislation that authorized the spending."

Read the Senator's statement: Senator Tom Coburn Says he is not holding up aid to Haiti

Speaking of secrets, a declassified Henry Kissinger memorandum (Kissinger's National Security Memorandum 200) from 1974, outlines the U.S.' plan to promote the depopulation of the "developing world." Kissinger's degrading term for poor people coming out of that memo was "useless eaters."

Is it possible that the Kissinger/U.S. agenda (depopulating the developing world) is the U.S. policy playing out in Haiti ten months after the devastating earthquake?

U.S. foreign policy shows a blatant racist disregard for Haiti's poor population. In Haiti, USAID promotes sewing for the garment industry in unsafe, unsanitary, non-union, slave-wage sweatshops. In Asia and Europe, USAID offers high-tech jobs training.

U.S. immigration policy is discriminatory to Haitians. The Obama and Bush administrations have opened up the U.S. border for more European and Asian immigrants through employer preferences and other affirmative action immigration policies, like the "wet foot, dry foot policy," which accepts Cubans arriving on Miami shores, while repatriating or incarcerating Haitians in ICE jails. The Obama administration is deporting "undesirables" at an even higher rate than the Bush regime. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was given to some unprecedented 30,000+ Haitians slated for deportation prior to the earthquake in January, but it wouldn't surprise Haitians for Obama to continue deportations of Haitian immigrants in spite of the humanitarian crisis in Haiti when the TPS ends.

The only unique exemption from deportation for a "non-citizen" seems to be if he/she dies in combat for the U.S., then they can be a dead citizen of the United States.

Could the documented U.S. foreign policy to depopulate developing countries be the real reason for the "slow pace of aid," indifference and pass-the-buck approach to aid administration? Is the U.S. deliberately facilitating the deaths of Haitians in the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps or as they are best titled – the death camps? The State Department has only recently begun to fulfilled the administrative requirements for the release of aid the U.S. pledged... so maybe a couple of more months, years maybe, before the money is distributed to a well-connected NGO?

These are legitimate questions more than ten months after the quake – as the situation remains desperate, dangerous, debilitating, disease-ridden and depressing for over 1.5 million Haitians in the IDP camps and as a cholera epidemic rages.

Recall that the U.S., France & Canada sponsored the 2004 coup of the democratic government of Haiti (following the U.S. backed 1991 coup) – is it not unreasonable to conclude that in order to complete their collective agendas, these countries want to be sure that there is absolutely no spirited opposition (sic) left to protest their "selection" occurring on November 28? They are spending millions financing these elections, yet, they know very well that the country's major political party, Fanmi Lavalas and 11 others are banned from participation. The State Department has yet to publicly respond to protest letters (2 thus far) by 45 Congresspeople and a report by Richard Lugar expressing concern about the fairness and legitimacy of the elections.

Concrete plans must be made to provide every Haitian made homeless by the quake a permanent safe home, so that people know that they will not be living on the streets or in the tent camps "forever." It should be and is Haitian's human right to have access to food, shelter and work as per the UN Convention on Human Rights and the Haitian Constitution.

Secretary Clinton still has time to do the right thing for Haiti. She should demand that the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) permit all eligible parties to take part in legit, free and fair elections.

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How To Treat Cholera / Traiter Les Patients

Click on images to view a larger image | Cliquez sur les images pour agrandir l'image.

Source: Biosurveillance - View the original file HERE.

Voir le fichier original ICI

How to prevent and treat cholera (pdf)

Will Jean-Bertrand Aristide Apologize for Coup-napping?

Former president George W. Bush is expected to ask Jean-Bertrand Aristide for an apology for his reluctance to leave the Haitian presidency at the request of the United States in the early morning hours of February 29, 2004.

Reports of the expected announcement comes from officials high up or just high in the U.S. State Department. Some have speculated that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton herself may be issuing the statement on behalf of the former president, who in recent years has formed a close and at times playful bound with her husband, ex-president Bill Clinton.

According to a source at the State Department, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the extension of this "olive branch" will be the highlight a joint event which will be attended by Bush, the Clintons and representatives of Haiti's rich oligarchy.

The brief statement from Bush will say:

"Greetings, Jean-Bertrand, it's George Bush here... Jr. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology some time and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my Embassy goo-oo-n… personnel. Why didn't you have the sense to leave immediately? Why did you have to be "persuaded" to sign that resignation letter and get on that plane? So what, you weren't told where we were taking you and your family? Why didn't you just trust that the U.S. had your best interest at heart when we took you "back to Africa" as it were? After all, they do speak French in the Central Republic of Africa.

So give it some thought and certainly pray about this... ah I know you were ex-communicated by the Catholic Church for your political activism on behalf of the poor, but still do pray on it, won't ya? Do come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day there in South Africa. Say hi to that guy who was on the terrorist watch list for most of my presidency… ah what's his name, Mande... ah something."

What Haitians have to say

Video 1 - What is the plan? Where did it come from?

Video 2 - What is the solution? Who can pull it off?

Video 3 - A visit to the home of François Delouis

HatTip: Jane Regan for her piece, "Haiti's 1.3 Million Displaced People -- In Their Own Words" @ Huffingtonpost.com

Why is the International Community Financing Sham Elections in Haiti?

The Fanmi Lavalas party slogan embraces unity: "Everyone around the table." In Kreyol: "Yon Sèl Nou Fèb, Ansanm Nou Fò, Ansanm, Anssanm Nou Se Lavalas."

For the second time this year, U.S. Lawmakers are expressing concern about the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas and 33 other parties from the November 28 elections in Haiti.

October 8, 2010: Reuters reports that U.S. lawmakers warn of flaws in Haiti vote process:

"The lawmakers urged Clinton to demand the elections include all eligible political parties and easy access to voting for all Haitians, including 1.5 million people displaced by the quake that wrecked Port-au-Prince and killed up to 300,000."

June 30, 2010: A report issued by Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee highlighted the same concern. U.S. lawmakers are also quoted as deferring to Hillary Clinton for her support on the issue.

Secretary Hillary Clinton has yet to state her position on the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas and other parties from the Haitian elections. She's got more pressing issues to address. In September speaking along side Haitian Prime Minister and France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, the U.S. Secretary of State expressed her frustration with those displaced Haitians in the death camps who were complaining about the slow pace of aid, branding them "whiner." The most pointed headline was: "US and France Scold Displaced Haitians and Other Whiners for Being 'Impatient' and 'Unrealistic'."

The Clinton's who recently purchased a palatial 7000 square foot residence in New Bedford, NY evidently have good intentions, but don't seem to be making much leeway in helping the 1.5 million Haitians living in squalid, horrid and dehumanizing conditions in what some call "death camps."

The Bill Clinton charity, Clinton Global Initiatives is widening efforts in Haiti after his recent visit. The charity, headed by daughter Chelsea Clinton (who has so far not visited Haiti) is donating a cool half-a-million dollars to Sean Penn.

Haiti's Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) showed their appreciation for the Clinton visit, but many camp residents held spontaneous demonstrations for the return of President Aristide. The protests must not resonate with ex-president Clinton; if they did he would surely have demanded a free and fair election in Haiti where all parties are allowed to participate.

The election campaign continues for the remaining approved nineteen presidential candidates. Two of the candidates have hoped to benefit from the support of Fanmi Lavalas.

Leslie Voltaire & Yves Cristalin are both claiming they have the support of Fanmi Lavalas. Fanmi Lavalas is evidently not as "irrelevant" as some pretend. A Fanmi Lavalas representative is denying that it endorses any candidate for the presidential elections:

"Felix Ansyto Commission Mobilization of Fanmi Lavalas, said that "the Lavalas political organization, does not endorse any candidate in the presidential masquerade" recalling that the charter of the Organization in its Article 8, prohibits its members to belong to any other political party for any reason whatsoever. "Clearly we are not concerned with elections announced", recalling that the organization of Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from the electoral process."

--Haiti Libre

The Haiti presidential "selection" is comprised of candidates without a constituency or electorate. The question of the legitimacy of elections without the majority party is evidently an issue for some in the U.S. Congress.

The obvious question is: Why is the international community financing sham presidential elections in Haiti?

“In order for peace to reign, one must speak the truth, and that is why I have spoken of a political abduction, ... ... Far from my own country, but in deep communion with all Haitians, including Haitians abroad, I continue to launch an appeal for peaceful resistance.”

—Jean-Bertrand Aristide

UPDATE 10.20.2010: State Department asked to explain Haiti elections policy, but a spokesperson has no answers... and evidently is not too concerned about the issue.

Last week the U.S. State Department was asked about the issue for the second time, yet once again did not have an answer. The exclusions problem has dragged on for months, becoming a growing scandal.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Weisbrot said. “The U.S. has known about this problem for months, and it has been reported numerous times in the international press, not to mention that it is a major bone of contention in Haiti. Imagine if we had an ‘election’ in the U.S. and both the Democratic and Republican parties were not allowed to participate. The Obama Administration’s inability to explain why U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to support such a blatantly anti-democratic process is inexcusable.”

[...] After the letter from 45 members of Congress was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, a reporter asked for comment during the State Department daily press briefing. It was the second time the issue had been raised during the briefings (the first was September 15 after an open letter [PDF] to Clinton signed by over 20 NGO’s). The exchange reveals the State Department’s lack of concern regarding the issue.

Read more at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Heart of Haiti at Macy's

Macy's selling unique art pieces by Haitian artisans at two dozen stores around the country.

Macy's to promote Haitian artists' work in their department store and online starting this month. The retailer has put up 20,000 art pieces for sale.

This is a one of kind shopping experience created to support the Artisans of Haiti. Each item is designed by a master Haitian artist and made by hand in Haiti. Vibrant colors and joyful patterns express the Haitian spirit.

Despite the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haitian artisans continue to turn raw materials like recycled oil drums, wrought iron, paper mache and stone into art that embodies their rich culture and history. These traditional, handcrafted treasures provide life-saving income to the shattered communities they call home.

Many of the artisans and artists are still living in tents in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 quake. They are struggling with the same difficult situation faced by 1.5 million displaced Haitians living out in the open elements without electricity or running water. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps have been battered by tropical storms in the eight months since the earthquake, making the condition in the leaky tarps and tents even more miserable and dangerous.

The Miami Herald reports, "Despite the conditions, the Heart of Haiti home decor collection was designed in three weeks and produced in 2 ½ months. Normally the process could take two years. There was no time to spare in order to get the products to Macy's for the holiday gift season."


Brandaid Project, whose mission is to "Unite to rebuild Artisan Communities" has partnered with Macy's, Fairwinds Trading and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Haitian artisans to provide Haitian artisans with "access to new opportunities to rebuild their communities and continue creating beautiful art."

Haitian artisan Serge Jolimeau says, "A lot of people are working. A lot of people are living. After the earthquake, we didn't have much work. We didn't have much happening, But the Macy's project gave us support... Now more than ever, Haiti needs creative spirit. With help we will rise again."

The Herald reported 35 percent of the sales receipts from the Haitian collection would go back to the artists.

Cameron Brohman, co-founder of the Brandaid Project, said Haitians involved in the project quadrupled their income for the year.

The Haitian communities of Jacmel, Croix-des-Bouquets, and Cité Soleil reportedly participated in the project which employed 350 artists and is estimated to have provided financial benefit to 4,000 to 5,000 Haitians.

Sources: UPI and the Miami Herald.