Cholera spreads into the Dominican Republic

The first reported case of cholera has been found in the Dominican Republic. The case indicates that the epidemic has a chance of jumping the border from Haiti, as the two countries share the island of Hispaniola.

From CNN, we read more about the new case of cholera.

The first confirmed case is a 32-year-old Haitian construction worker who returned to the Dominican Republic last Friday with symptoms of the intestinal illness, the health ministry said Tuesday night.

Wilmo Louwes went back to Haiti on October 31 to take money home, according to the El Nacional newspaper.

Louwes came back Friday with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea and was hospitalized in Higuey, near the eastern resort town of Punta Cana. He was in stable condition and will probably be released from the hospital Wednesday, the newspaper quoted Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez as saying.

Two other suspected cases turned out to be negative, the health ministry said.

The cholera outbreak confirmed last month in northwest Haiti has killed 1,034 of the 16,799 people hospitalized with the disease, according to Haiti's health ministry.