Sparknoted Version of "Cholera"

Until about a month ago, the only cholera that had been in my life was Love in the Time of Cholera, a boring Javier Bardem movie. Now, after planning this trek down to Haiti, cholera dominates my conversations that I have with people when explaining what my time in Port-au-Prince entails. Due to the many questions that people have had over what exactly I'll be dealing with, I figured I'd give a very brief and quick overview of cholera.

Cholera is a bacterial infection that attacks the small intestine and causes extreme vomiting and diarrhea. These symptoms can cause rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. The important thing to note about cholera is that it is transmitted through contaminated water and food and not through being sneezed on by someone who is sick. The ways to prevent getting sick is sewage treatment, cleaning up sources of water, purifying water, and sterilization aka wash your hands often with tons of Germ-X.

Due to the aggressive nature of cholera, the best treatment is hydration, electrolytes and antibiotics. This can be done with oral rehydration therapy (a stronger medical version of Gatorade) and if this proves ineffective, intravenous fluids (IV).

Many of the patients that we will be assisting at the treatment center will have IV drips and some will even have a newer, more invasive form of IV that is drilled directly into the bone and administered straight into the bone marrow. It's intense but effective.

There is your lesson of the day. No need to worry too much about me or the fellow volunteers in the treatment center getting cholera. The center is well equipped and has surprising good numbers when it comes to survival rate of the patients they take in.

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A quick sidenote: I wanted to pass along an article that I was in. I'm a celebrity for all of one brief sentence.