University has a field hospital in Haiti

UM Med School responds to Haiti cholera outbreak

EBY FRED TASKER

FTASKER@MIAMIHERALD.COM
Doctors at the University of Miami School of Medicine have been huddling to plan their response to the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
UM is doing an inventory of supplies at its Port-au-Prince field hospital and another medical facility in the Central Highlands to see what it can supply to the Haitian government.
By early Saturday, nearly 200 dead were confirmed dead in Haiti's worst health crisis since the Jan. 12 quake. Authorities said more than 2,000 people are sick.
Most critical, said Dr. Arthur Fournier, associate dean for community health at the medical school, is simple ``oral rehydration therapy'' -- little packets of sugar and salt that, when mixed with clean water, can rehydrate a cholera victim without the need for an IV.
``We're getting these to them,'' said Fournier, who was in Haiti Thursday. ``We probably need more.''
From its facilities in Haiti, UM also is sending cots for patients and bleach for the hands of caregivers and to disinfect human waste.
``We probably need more of that too.''
After the Jan. 12 quake, the UM med school and Project Medishare quickly erected a 240-bed emergency tent hospital at the Port-au-Prince airport, treating hundreds ofpatients, often under horrific conditions.
The hospital is still running, with about 200 patients, Fournier said.
How to contain Haiti's new cholera outbreak is ``a $64 question,'' Fournier said. ``These are very smart germs, and Haiti is a resource-poor country.''
He said two national roads that run through the disease zone might help spread the disease. ``Haiti's squalid public sanitation is going to be a big problem.''
He added: ``This brings Haiti back on the radar. Hopefully it will refortify efforts to rebuild the infrastructure so we don't face these crises every several months.''
Throughout the world, about 3-5 million cholera cases and more than 100,000 deaths occur every year, mostly in poor countries, the World Health Organization says.
Major epidemics took place in the 1800s, when it spread from an original reservoir in the Ganges delta in India. Millions died.
Today it is endemic, and a substantial health burden, in many countries in Africa, Asia and South and Central America.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/23/1887814/um-med-school-responds-to-haiti.html#ixzz13D4VwPBF