ICDDRB chief to find Haiti cholera source
Dr Alejandro Cravioto, executive director of ICDDR,B, was appointed by the United Nations to head a panel investigating the source of the recent cholera outbreak in Haiti which has claimed over 3,400 people so far.
Some blame peacekeeping forces of introducing the bacteria to the quake-ravaged island but no firm evidence has been found to support the claim, said an ICDDR,B press release.
In a statement issued last Friday, a spokesperson for the UN secretary general said Ban Ki-Moon remains “deeply concerned by the cholera outbreak in Haiti ... determining the source of the cholera outbreak is important for both the United Nations and the people of Haiti.”
Joining Dr Cravioto on the four-person panel are two more scientists with strong ties to ICDDR,B -- former board member Dr Claudio Lanata and former head of the institute's Laboratory Sciences Division Dr G Balakrish Nair, the press release said.
“We are honoured that the UN has asked us to undertake this task,” said Dr Cravioto. “It underlines ICDDR,B's international reputation as one of the world's leading centres in the study, treatment and prevention of diarrhoeal diseases, especially cholera.”
They will travel to Haiti in mid-February to conduct an on-the-ground investigation and are expected to report back to the UN sometime in March.
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