A U.N. panel investigating the cause of a deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti concluded that fecal contamination of a river near a U.N. peacekeeping camp was a likely cause. But the four-member panel named by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January avoided apportioning any direct blame or responsibility to U.N. peacekeepers, citing “a confluence of circumstances” behind the epidemic. The experts from Latin America, the United States and India had been asked to investigate the source of the Haitian cholera outbreak, which has killed more than 4,800 people since October, although the death rate has slowed considerably. The panel was set up following accusations by Haitians that Nepalese soldiers serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, or MINUSTAH, were the source of cholera, through leakage from latrines at their camp at Mirebalais in central Haiti. In its report released late Wednesday, the panel said the outbreak was caused by “bacteria introduced into Haiti as a result of human activity; more specifically by the contamination of the Meye Tributary System of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of the current South Asian type Vibrio cholerae.” Declaring that the cholera strain was introduced “as a result of environmental contamination with feces,” the report faulted sanitation conditions at the Mirebalais MINUSTAH camp, saying they “were not sufficient to prevent fecal contamination of the Meye Tributary System of the Artibonite River.” Explaining the epidemic's “explosive spread” along the Artibonite River and throughout Haiti, the report said “simultaneous water- and sanitation- and healthcare-system deficiencies” contributed to the spread. It noted Haitians used river water for washing, bathing, drinking, and recreation. “The independent panel concludes that the Haiti cholera outbreak was caused by the confluence of circumstances as described above, and was not the fault of, or deliberate action of, a group or individual," it said. While not placing blame, the expert panel recommended that U.N. peacekeepers and personnel traveling from cholera-endemic areas be screened for the disease and given antibiotics before departure for their mission country.
