• Submitted by: lena campos
• Health and Medicine
• 07 / 04 / 2012

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A rare cholera outbreak has killed three elderly people in Cuba and sickened dozens more.

The Communist Party daily Granma says 53 people tested positive for the disease in Manzanillo, 430 miles (700 kilometers) east of Havana. The three who died were 66 to 95 years old.

An official report in Granma blamed contaminated wells. It said Tuesday that authorities closed the wells, were disinfecting the hydraulic system and had the outbreak under control.

Cholera is a waterborne disease caused by a bacteria found in tainted water or food. It can kill within hours through dehydration, but is treatable if caught in time.

Cholera is unusual in Cuba. But recent outbreaks in nearby Haiti have killed more than 7,200 people.

Source: The Miami Herald