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On November 20, Operational Biosurveillance said the most conservative estimate is nearly 80,000 cases, stressing:
"we have confirmation that in-patient statistics are underreported by as much as 400%. In many areas of Haiti, we are documenting outbreaks that are not being accounted for in the official statistics. We therefore estimate the upper bound of estimated case counts to be 300,000." Counting "subclinical infections....the true community load will be (close) to 800,000. We err on the side of over-estimating because this is a 'virgin soil' epidemic and expected to aggressively spread throughout the country and across the border into the Dominican Republic....We expect to see medical clinic inundations inside the DR in the near future."
Florida also reported one case in a returned traveler. America will experience more. However, "Implications for the United States are negligible," given many treatment facilities in most areas.
Street Protests Continue
Anger across Haiti is visible and visceral, given inadequate aid, hatred of the oppressive UN force, and confirmation that Haiti's cholera strain is Asian, introduced by UN Nepalese troops in the Artibonite region where the first outbreak occurred. On November 18, Claes Hammer, Sweden's Haiti ambassador, told the daily Svenska Dagbladt that tests showed:
"Unfortunately that is the case. It has proved that the cholera came from Nepal....It is 100% true. Tests were made and the source was traced to Nepal....This is obviously a strain of the disease that is prevalent in Nepal and now it seems that (it) ended up in Haiti. I have received the information from a diplomatic source. It is 100% accurate. We have taken samples and traced the infection to Nepal."
The UN humanitarian coordinator, Nigel Fisher, also told Canada's CBC that a French epidemiologist's study confirmed the cholera strain was Nepalese. He added that under appalling conditions, "The epidemic is not going to go away. It is almost impossible to stop."
America's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tried to downplay it, saying little about its severity and only that the strain is "most similar" to South Asian ones. Nepal's Army spokesman, Ramindra Chettri, denied his country's origination, saying:
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