Cholera Death Toll Surges Past 1,600 in Haiti

The health ministry has confirmed that the death toll from Haiti's cholera epidemic rose to 1,603 on Thursday, up from 1,415 just two days previously.

The outbreak has infected 69,776 people since it was first detected in mid-October, of whom 29,871 have been hospitalized, it said.

To date, 146 have died of the virulent diarrheal disease in the destroyed capital of Port-au-Prince, where more than one million people have been living in sprawling tent cities since a January earthquake.

Officials fear the disease could spread quickly there because residents have little access to proper sanitation.

There have been isolated cases beyond Haiti's borders -- four in the neighboring Dominican Republic and one in Miami, Florida.

Source: AFP