Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Santo Domingo (Agenzia Fides) – There is concern in the Dominican Republic due to the cholera epidemic that is affecting entire neighborhoods of the Caribbean island. The Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, has launched an appeal to all the Churches, the various sectors of society and government to join in a campaign of prevention against this overwhelming pandemic that continues to cause hundreds of deaths. The cardinal said that "if you want a healthy country, all sectors must fight for its health." In another context, the Cardinal stressed that social disorder is the main cause of violence affecting the country and stressed the need for unity among all sectors, including Churches, to promote education, starting from families, with the aim of eliminating this plague.
According to the local newspaper Diario Libre outbreaks of cholera have developed in the National District, in the provinces of Santo Domingo, Elías Piña, San Pedro de Macoris, town halls El Cercado, San Juan de la Maguana and La Canela, Santiago, and between the most vulnerable and poor as La Cienega, Los Guandules, La Puya, la Barquita, Gualey, Sabana Perdida, Capotillo, and María Auxiliadora. The disease does not stop despite the expanded preventive measures. Children and elderly are once again the most prone to infection. The bacterium has spread from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, where it has turned into an epidemic, killing 5,234 people. Due to poor hygienic conditions in which populations live in these countries, it is presumed that cholera could last many years, even because of the limited monitoring by the authorities. The fear of infections continues to increase, although the local Ministry of Health has increased the diagnosis and treatment by providing health centers for oral rehydration. Although not all cases with a diarrheal diagnostic picture may be cholera, but amoeba and other bacteria or viruses, black water causes the dispersion of feces contaminating the environment. Every time it rains hundreds of homes are flooded by dirty water. In several districts of the capital shelters have been set up for those infected or suspected of infection. Patients continue to increase, only yesterday 26 were admitted to the hospital Luis Eduardo Aybar, in the capital, including 10 children between 1 and 11 years of age. The other nine were hospitalized in Francisco Moscoso Puello, 6 in Santo Socorro, and seven at the maternity clinic San Lorenzo de Los Mina and 28 suspected cases of children as well as 16 in the medical center Marcelino Vélez. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 05/26/2011)
