Date:1/10/2013

by Mukandavire and Morris is the latest contribution in what has been more than two years of efforts by the University of Florida to combat cholera in Haiti. At the beginning of the epidemic the university sent thousands of oral rehydration packets to Haiti, as a gift from the students at the College of Pharmacy. UF researchers also have honed a molecular fingerprinting technique that helps scientists determine whether the disease is spreading from the contamination of food and water or being transmitted from person to person. UF now has a permanent research laboratory in Haiti, providing ongoing monitoring of the epidemic.

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that causes dehydration, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. It can be fatal if untreated. It is most commonly spread through contaminated drinking water.

There also has been a dispute over the source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti after a century-long absence of the disease in the country. UF researchers do not point fingers at what triggered the outbreak. They are intent on checking its spread. The latest EPI work relies on a mathematical model that advances previous analyses by refining the way environmental sources of the bacterium that causes cholera are factored into calculations.

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Contact: J. Glenn Morris Jr. JGMorris@epi.ufl.edu 352-273-7526 University of Florida Source:Eurekalert

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