Mortality Rates during Cholera Epidemic, Haiti, 2010–2011

• Main Authors: Francisco J. Luquero, Marc Rondy, Jacques Boncy, André Munger, Helmi Mekaoui, Ellen Rymshaw, Anne-Laure Page, Brahima Toure, Marie Amelie Degail, Sarala Nicolas, Francesco Grandesso, Maud Ginsbourger, Jonathan Polonsky, Kathryn P. Alberti, Mego Terzian, David Olson, Klaudia Porten, Iza Ciglenecki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2016-03-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: cholera; burden; mortality; Haiti; outbreak; epidemic
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/3/14-1970_article

The 2010 cholera epidemic in Haiti was one of the largest cholera epidemics ever recorded. To estimate the magnitude of the death toll during the first wave of the epidemic, we retrospectively conducted surveys at 4 sites in the northern part of Haiti. Overall, 70,903 participants were included; at all sites, the crude mortality rates (19.1–35.4 deaths/1,000 person-years) were higher than the expected baseline mortality rate for Haiti (9 deaths/1,000 person-years). This finding represents an excess of 3,406 deaths (2.9-fold increase) for the 4.4% of the Haiti population covered by these surveys, suggesting a substantially higher cholera mortality rate than previously reported.