Gov't: More than 2,000 dead of cholera in Haiti

[December 07, 2010]  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Haitian officials say more than 2,000 people have died of cholera since late October.

According to the official count, more than 91,700 people have been sickened by the disease.

Cholera had never been seen before in Haiti before the outbreak began along the rural Artibonite River. Due to dire sanitation and systemic health care shortages, it has spread to every region of the country.

Aid workers have tried to bring the epidemic under control but it continues to rage, especially in rural areas.

The United Nations said last week that the death and infection tolls could be twice as high as officially reported.

Haiti is also recovering from a devastating earthquake on Jan. 12 that killed as many as 300,000 people.

[Associated Press]

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