• Simon Akam / Reuters

    A child stands in pouring rain in the slum of Susan's Bay in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, Aug. 22. At the height of the wet season, over-populated areas with poor water and sanitation are exacerbating the spread of the disease.

    Cholera infects 13,000 in Sierra Leone, national emergency declared

    Sierra Leone's government has described the current cholera outbreak in the West African state of Sierra Leone as a "national emergency." According to Associated Press, more than 258 have been killed and some 13,000 more are infected by the disease.

    "All of this is the aftermath of the 11 years rebel war when we had a huge rural-to-urban migration and a huge population clustered in the urban area where adequate provision has not been made for water and sanitation. This is what we have been witnessing today," Minister of Health and Sanitation Zainab Hawa Bangura. Continue reading AP article.

    Cholera is an infection of the small intestine, contracted by eating or drinking contaminated food or liquids. It can cause acute diarrhea and vomiting and can kill within hours.

  • Cholera threatens displaced Congolese

    Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images

    Congolese gather on the roadside at an impromptu site for the displaced in Kanyarucinya on the outskirts of Goma back dropped by the Nyiragongo volcano in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Aug. 3, 2012. Clashes between local militia and government forces in northern Democratic Republic of Congo have sent 2,000 people fleeing into neighboring Uganda, various sources said Friday.

    Jerome Delay / AP reports -- The first case of cholera has emerged among thousands of people in an impromptu refugee camp in eastern Congo. Civilians fled fighting between a new rebel group and government forces backed by U.N. peacekeepers. Doctors Without Borders reported Congo's army only controls the city of Goma and the village of Kibumba, six miles outside Goma. Now the rebels hold all towns as far north as Rutshuru and are threatening to besiege Goma. The U.N. Security Council on Thursday demanded that the M23 rebel group halt any advances toward Goma.

    Jerome Delay / AP

    Internally displaced Congolese sit in a school on the outskirts of Goma, eastern Congo on Aug. 3.

    Jerome Delay / AP

    Congolese government troops load onto a truck outside the U.N.'s main base in Goma, eastern Congo, on Aug. 3.

    Related Articles:

    •Sign up for the NBCNews.com Photos Newsletter

  • Dieu Nalio Chery / AP

    A woman suffering from cholera symptoms sips on a plastic bag of semi-frozen water that is held by her husband as they wait for an ambulance to take them to a Doctors Without Borders cholera clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday June 14, 2011. Now that the rainy season has begun the number of cholera cases is rising in parts of Haiti, as feared by local and international health experts.

    Cholera in Haiti surges in areas hit by storm

    From Associated Press:

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The number of cholera cases is rising in parts of Haiti hit by heavy rains early this week.

    Alain Legarnec, mission chief for the French aid group Doctors of the World, said Friday that a clinic in the southwestern town of Jeremie treated 77 people for cholera in recent days. That's a fivefold increase from last week and was most likely caused by rising river levels, he said. Full story ...

    See all other Haiti related PhotoBlog posts

  • Kena Betancur / Reuters

    A Haitian woman infected with cholera sits inside a clinic set up by the International Red Cross in Port-au-Prince December 11, 2010. Simply setting up clinics to treat Haitians with cholera is not doing anywhere near enough to tackle the epidemic there, health experts said on Friday, calling for intensive vaccination and more use of antibiotics.

    Cholera outbreak in Haiti: Woman infected waits in clinic in Port-au-Prince

    By Elena Grothe

    For more images see our slideshow on the cholera outbreak in Haiti.

  • Water use in Haiti shows potential for disease transmission

    By John Brecher

    Photographers in Haiti have documented some of the water use practices that can spread disease. You can see more about the cholera outbreak in our slideshow. 

    EDUARDO MUNOZ / Reuters

    A Haitian child throws human waste in a street at downtown Port-au-Prince November 20, 2010. The United Nations-led international response to Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic is "inadequate" and woefully short of funding, aid groups, including the U.N. humanitarian agency, said on Friday.

    KENA BETANCUR / Reuters

    A man recovers an onion from the ground in downtown Port-au-Prince November 22, 2010. Aid supplies to combat Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic are flowing again into the country's northern regions after protests by Haitians blaming U.N. troops for the outbreak, humanitarian groups said on Sunday.

    KENA BETANCUR / Reuters

    A woman collects water from the ground to clean a table to sell meat in downtown Port-au-Prince November 22, 2010. Aid supplies to combat Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic are flowing again into the country's northern regions after protests by Haitians blaming U.N. troops for the outbreak, humanitarian groups said on Sunday.

    KENA BETANCUR / Reuters

    A girl drinks water from a well next to a refuse-clogged canal in downtown Port-au-Prince November 22, 2010. Aid supplies to combat Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic are flowing again into the country's northern regions after protests by Haitians blaming U.N. troops for the outbreak, humanitarian groups said on Sunday.

    EDUARDO MUNOZ / Reuters

    Haitians buy and sell groceries and meat beside disposed waste at a local market downtown Port-au-Prince November 21, 2010. The United Nations-led international response to Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic is "inadequate" and woefully short of funding, aid groups, including the U.N. humanitarian agency, said on Friday.

     

    Ramon Espinosa / AP

    A man bathes in a canal filled with garbage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday Nov. 22, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and at least 1,100 people have died.

     

     

  • Allison Shelley / Reuters

    A woman crosses a polluted gutter in the main outdoor food market in the Petionville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 21. The United Nations-led international response to Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic is "inadequate" and woefully short of funding, aid groups, including the U.N. humanitarian agency, said on Friday.

    Suffering continues in Haiti

    See more images from Haiti here.

  • Dieu Nalio Chery / AP

    The body of 7-year-old Kevin Francois, who according to his mother died of cholera in route to the hospital, lies in the street covered as a man, pulls the body of his father-in-law to the cemetery after he found him dead of cholera in the street near his home in Cap Haitian, Haiti, Friday, Nov. 19, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and at least 1,100 people have died.

    Haiti's deadly cholera epidemic

    By James Cheng

    Read the latest and see images from Haiti.

  • Emilio Morenatti / AP

    Relatives of Serge Ragmond, 49, who died of cholera, mourn during his burial at the cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Nov. 19, 2010. More than 1,100 people have died and thousands have been hospitalized across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

    Families bury cholera victims in Haiti

    NBC News Correspondent Kerry Sanders reports:

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The victims of Haiti’s latest challenge lie in cots quarantined so as not to spread cholera.

    The bacterial disease has killed more than 1,100 people and hospitalized more than 18,000 since the outbreak was first reported late last month and health officials here fear the epidemic is about to get far worse: The United Nations estimates as many as 200,000 Haitians will contract cholera within the next six to 12 months.

    WorldBlog: Battling to control Haiti's cholera epidemic

  • Ramon Espinosa / AP

    A medic ties with gauze the legs of 2-year-old Clercilia Regis who, according to doctors, died of cholera a few minutes earlier at the St. Catherine hospital in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday Nov. 10, 2010. Doctors and aid groups are rushing to set up cholera treatment centers across Haiti's capital as officials warn that the disease's encroachment into the city will bring a surge in cases. Cholera has killed more than 1,100 people across the country.

    So simple, so sad

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    While editing a slideshow on the cholera outbreak in Haiti today, this one really struck me and my colleague, Mish Whalen. That such a simple photograph can be so heartbreaking is a testament to the photographer, Ramon Espinosa.

  • Haiti's cholera outbreak sparks violent protests

    Remi Ochlik / Polaris

    Haitians hold anti-U.N. protests in Cap-Haitien, yelling anti-U.N. slogans, hurling stones at U.N. peacekeepers and setting up burning barricades. The protesters are accusing Nepalese of bringing cholera to Haiti.

     

    Hector Retamal / AFP - Getty Images

    A woman lies on the pavement near the General Hospital where people infected by cholera are being treated, Nov. 16, 2010, in Port-au-Prince.

    AP’s Jonathan M. Katz reports:

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — An outbreak of cholera has killed more than 1,000 people, the Haitian government said Tuesday as it sent top officials to the country's north in hopes of quelling violent protests against U.N. peacekeepers accused of spreading the disease.

    Read the full story: Haiti's cholera death toll grows, fueling riots

     

    Frustration over the slow response to Haiti's cholera outbreak erupted into violence for a second day on Tuesday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

  • Ramon Espinosa / AP

    A woman with cholera symptoms is helped after her arrival to a hospital in Archaie, Haiti, Monday Nov. 15, 2010.

    Cholera epidemic

    From AP:

    PORT-AU-PRINCE — Protesters who hold Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers responsible for a deadly outbreak of cholera that has killed 1,000 in three weeks threw stones and threatened to set fire to a base in the country's second-largest city Monday, Haitian radio and eyewitnesses reported. Read full story

  • Emilio Morenatti / AP

    A relative of Monitha Silney, 12, who died of cholera, mourns during her burial at the cemetery in the slum of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday, Nov. 14. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever.

    Haiti cholera toll tops 900

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Read the full story here.

Older posts