January 12, 2010 Haiti was hit with a massive and devastating earthquake. It’s expected that following such a natural disaster, homes, public buildings, and roads would be damaged, and many lives lost in the rubble. One can even imagine that people will be without lights, food, and housing for extended periods of time, but what is forgotten is that in the aftermath of  an earthquake, there comes flooding. Flooding of rivers and land, and the flooding of humanitarian aid workers from afar. Tragically, this flooding has led to the introduction of a pathogen into Haiti that has claimed the lives of many and complicated the recovery from the 2010 earthquake, that leveled the country. The pathogen responsible is Vibrio Cholerae, which causes Cholera. Although pandemic, Cholera had not been seen in Haiti in over a century.

Since Haiti had not been touched by this disease in a century, then where did the  Cholera come from?

Recently, the United Nations has publicly acknowledged and taken responsibility for the outbreak in Haiti; though it had already been researched and reported that Cholera entered Haiti with the influx of U.N. troops from parts of the world where Cholera is endemic.

The first victims lived near a base housing 454 United Nations peacekeepers freshly arrived from Nepal, where a cholera outbreak was underway, and waste from the base often leaked into the river. Numerous scientists have since argued that the base was the only plausible source of the outbreak…New York Times

 

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