The first case of cholera was reported this week in Florida. A woman who traveled to Haiti to visit family brought the disease back with her. She started showing signs of the disease after her return from the island.
A child suffering cholera symptoms is checked by a doctor at the Doctors Without Borders temporary hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday Nov. 16, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and hundreds have died. (Emilio Morenatti / AP)
The Miama Herald reported:
A Collier County woman who traveled to visit family in Haiti’s disease-stricken Artibonite Valley has become Florida’s first local case of cholera transmitted from the beleaguered country, where the disease has killed nearly 1,000 and hospitalized more than 9,000.
“She’s doing quite well,” said Dr. Thomas Torok, a cholera expert in the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Epidemiology. “Additional cases are under investigation in several counties.”
Torok declined to identify the woman, except to say she does not work in a job that puts her in close contact with the public, so the chance that she might pass on the disease is very small. He said she returned from Haiti about a week ago showing cholera symptoms, and the Collier County Health Department confirmed the case and sent samples on to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing.
Torok also declined to comment further about the additional suspected cases, citing department policy.
Hat Tip K. Solomon
Cholera also reached the Dominican Republic this week.
There are at least 7 flights from Haiti that arrive in Miami on a daily basis. It may take days before a victim shows symptoms of the disease.
Previously:
Health Officials Fear Haiti Travelers May Be Bringing Cholera to Florida
