Cases Of Cholera Remain At Eight In The Dominican Republic With Suspects Tested Negative, Says Public Health

In the Dominican Republic, the number of cholera cases that were documented remained at eight as of Dec. 26, owing to the fact that the suspects of the diarrheal disease which arose in the last week had negative laboratory tests, said reports.

Public health officials, who claim that they are still being watched in case a new incident occurs, have reported this.

Several government entities maintain an active intervention in the La Zurza sector since most of the cholera positives correspond to that neighborhood in the northern zone of the National District. There haven't been any new positives in the sector for the past week.

Only four cases of patients with diarrhea have been reported in the eight days that the mobile hospital set up by Public Health has been operating in that region, but all have tested negative, according to Jesús Suardí, director of Health Area IV, which La Zurza corresponds.

It emphasizes the fact that they still conduct house-to-house visit operations to inform the populace about the precautions they need to take to prevent a disease that is spread through consuming contaminated food and water and that causes diarrhea and stomach aches.

The waters of the Isabela River, one of the tributaries that feed the Ozama River, which in turn borders various sectors of the northern part of the National District, were found to contain Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera. However, no instances of the illness have yet been found in other sectors.

To stop the sickness from spreading, health officials have urged inhabitants of the Isabela strip to stop utilizing the river. In addition, they have requested that La Zurza inhabitants refrain from using La Poza, a spa from which many community members obtain their water supply, due to the absence of a sufficient system for distributing drinking water.

In addition to the eight confirmed cases, the Ministry of Public Health reported last week that it was monitoring about six suspected cases of cholera, including diarrheal episodes that happened in the Los Guaricanos and Capotillo sectors. However, all of the cases tested negative for the illness, according to a report on Dec. 26 by Dr. Gina Estrella Ramia, director of Risk Management and Disaster Attention at the Ministry of Public Health.