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WHO expects 500,000 cholera cases in Haiti by year end

The Associated Press Published Friday, October 21, 2011 9:35AM EDT

Nadia Pier, a girl suffering cholera symptoms, rests as she is treated at a cholera clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Dec.6, 2010. (AP / Guillermo Arias)

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GENEVA - The World Health Organization says the number of cholera cases in Haiti is expected to exceed 500,000 by the end of 2011.

The U.N. health agency says some 470,000 cases and 6,600 deaths have so far been recorded.

WHO cholera expert Claire-Lise Chaignat told reporters in Geneva on Friday that the disease was also likely to become endemic in the Caribbean nation.

No cases of cholera had been documented in Haiti before the outbreak a year ago, months after a devastating earthquake hit the country.

Chaignat says WHO is examining whether a large-scale cholera vaccination campaign is possible in Haiti.