PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The death toll from the cholera epidemic in Haiti hit 330 Friday, health officials said.
Gabriel Thimote, the minister of health, said Friday afternoon 25 of the deaths were reported in the previous 24 hours, Le Nouvelliste reported. He said 4,714 people had been hospitalized with the disease.
Jon Kim Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, told the BBC there may be many cases of cholera going unreported.
"We really don't know about communities where diarrhea cases are occurring but not reaching health centers," Andrus said.
Health officials are concerned the disease might spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, where 1.3 million people are still living in makeshift camps after the January earthquake. While a few cases have been reported there, the victims apparently were infected elsewhere.
They are also worried the epidemic might spread to the Dominican Republic.
Some Haitians have blamed the epidemic on U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal.
Cholera is a bacterial infection usually spread by consuming contaminated food or water.
