Rise of disease in quake hit Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - – "Several medical teams report a growing case load of diarrhea in the last two to three days," World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood said.

"There are also reports of measles and tetanus, including in resettlement camps, which is worrisome due to the high concentration of people," he told journalists in Geneva.

Haiti's desperate earthquake survivors faced a new deadly threat Friday as the United Nations reported a rise in cases of diarrhea, measles and tetanus in squalid tent camps for victims.

A vast foreign aid effort is struggling to meet survivors' needs 17 days after the disaster, which killed around 170,000 people and left one million homeless and short of food, water and medical attention.

And with medicine running low amid efforts to treat hundreds of thousands of injured and homeless cramped into makeshift camps, officials and aid groups are scrambling to avoid a potential public health calamity that could push the death toll higher.

UN agencies and Haiti's government aim to launch a vaccination campaign against measles, tetanus and diphtheria next week. Just 58 percent of Haitian infants were immunized before the quake, Garwood said.

He highlighted a "critical" need for surgeons, with an estimated 30 to 100 amputations being carried out every day in some hospitals, while supplies of anesthetics and antibiotics were also needed.

The 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 decimated Haiti's already meager health system, creating conditions for disease to thrive in cramped refugee camps.

Related video (Disease and infection in Haiti): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcZRfI9NvLc
(cut and paste the URL to the browser)