The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday issued a travel warning for Haiti and other Caribbean nations, where a cholera outbreak and other diseases have become a matter of concern.
In recent days, more than 1,500 cases of cholera have been reported in Haiti, with high incidences reported in areas where conditions have remained unsanitary following a devastating earthquake that hit the nation earlier this year.
The reports say that as many as 250 people have died of the disease, with at least 135 deaths concentrated in the northern part of Haiti.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in impoverished tent cities, particularly around Port-au-Prince, the capital, where sanitation remains poor and relief groups say the illness can spread rapidly.
The CDC said cholera is transmitted through the fecal oral route and can commonly be passed into food contaminated with the virus when it is prepared in unclean places.
Symptoms range from mild to severe, and include vomiting, diarrhea and leg cramps. If cholera goes untreated, the death rate can be as high as 50 percent, the health authority said.
In related news, leptospirosis, an infectious disease that is commonly transmitted through the urine of infected animals, such as rats, has also been affecting Central and South American countries.
Dozens of people affected with the deadly disease have been reported in Nicaragua and Honduras, the CDC said.
The disease is especially rampant in the rainy season, since the amount of rainfall and the number of cases are strongly correlated.
The CDC advised travelers to avoid visiting such countries where the cholera epidemic and other diseases have become widespread.
If visitors must travel to the Caribbean, the CDC is advising travelers to check alerts and obtain updated information on the cholera situation ahead of the trip, as well as consulting a doctor for the necessary vaccines and medical treatment.
Taking extra care with personal hygiene and ensuring all food is prepared in sanitary conditions are also key to prevention, the CDC said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS