Report: Nepalese UN Peacekeepers Caused Haiti Cholera Outbreak

By: - June 30th, 2011

Above: quarantine stations for the infected (UN Photo/Logan Abassi)

UN peacekeepers in Haiti from Nepal were likely the source of the Haitian cholera epidemic that has been responsible for the deaths of more than 5,500 people, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Our findings suggest that contamination of the Artibonite [River] and one of its tributaries downstream from a military camp triggered the epidemic,” the report said. “There was an exact correlation in time and places between the arrival of a Nepalese battalion from an area experiencing a cholera outbreak and the appearance of the first cases in Meille a few days after.” [Reuters]

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