Sudden Death by Cholera

a Mystery to Haitians

Emily Troutman Contributor

AOL News

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Nov. 11) -- Claudette Brianvil's husband, Jean-Anel Pierre, says his wife loved to cook. And go to church. These are such ordinary details that it becomes easy to forget how extraordinary her death was. And not just because she was the mother of four young children.

Claudette died of cholera, a disease that had been so rare in Haiti that even as its numbers escalate, ordinary people here still don't understand it. Her neighbors in Cite Soleil all know she died of cholera. But there are a lot of theories on how and why she got the disease. Some say it's evil; others say it is a plot by the government. It's moving so fast, they say, it's as if the cholera wants people to die.

The government of Haiti has so far confirmed more than 600 cholera-related deaths across the country in the past few weeks, and one death -- Claudette's -- in Port-au-Prince. The numbers, released by Haiti's Ministry of Public Health, are at least three days old, and new numbers, to be released Friday, will likely double.

The extensive flooding from Hurricane Tomas gave the waterborne bacteria new speed and direction. Haitians already familiar with malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS simply can't understand an illness that can kill someone in two hours.

Emily Troutman for AOL News

Verlande Geffrard, Claudette Brianvil's cousin, holds Claudette's 11-month-old son, Anelka Pierre. In the photo, Claudette and her husband, Jean-Anel Pierre, are shown during happier times. Claudette died Tuesday from cholera.

Claudette, who was strong and healthy, lasted maybe 12 hours.

At 9 p.m. Monday, Anel talked to his wife on the phone while he was at work. She was fine. Claudette, 42, sold belts in the street. At 4 a.m. Tuesday, their 15-year-old daughter, Lovely, called him to say her mother was desperately ill. With her cousin, Janine Michelle, Claudette managed to walk the short block to the hospital.

"We showed up to the hospital at 4 a.m. There were six [other patients] there with us. By 6 a.m., there were 60," Janine says.

By Tuesday afternoon, Claudette was dead. And today a woman in mourning, Janine, is enraged. And afraid.

"We never used to have this thing in Haiti. We do everything. We wash our hands," she says. "I don't think it's a virus. I've never met a rich person who caught it. We want the government to say something about it, because I don't think it came like they say. It's in the air."

Many Believe It's a Conspiracy

Janine suggests that cholera is a powder and that someone is distributing it to kill the poor people. Claudette's other cousin, Verlande Geffrard, says the same thing. Dor Rubens, 29, a neighbor, says the U.S. government is in a conspiracy with the Haitian government to make sure Haiti never improves. Cholera is just the latest trick, he says.

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Neighbors and friends gathered Wednesday at the Pierre family home in Cite Soleil, Haiti, to mourn Brianvil. One neighbor said Claudette "always washed her hands." They are puzzled about how she contracted deadly cholera.

They have heard the news, which was first reported by The Associated Press and has now trickled down to the streets, that the strain of cholera found here was accidentally imported, most likely by United Nations soldiers from Nepal, where the genetic strain of the disease is similar.

Locals, though, don't have all the details. By turns, they say the U.N. brought it, the government brought it, the charities brought it, the U.S. government brought it, Europe brought it. They wonder why a thing like this would happen so close to elections.

Where -- exactly -- the cholera came from is just the first question in a series of things they don't know. International organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization are ramping up their treatment efforts here, but education and outreach to families like Claudette's, which have experienced a death, don't exist yet.

Claudette was breastfeeding her 11-month-old son. Will he get it? When she got sick, she was in bed. What are we supposed to do with it? She did all the cooking. Will the other kids get sick? She used this bathroom. Is it in the neighborhood's toilet now? We want a funeral. Will they give us back her body?

Christian Lindmeier, who is with the World Health Organization, says cholera is not contagious like a flu or a virus. Shaking hands or coughing can't transmit it. Cholera is transmitted only through the oral ingestion of fecal matter or vomit. That means people have to drink, wash their dishes, brush their teeth or clean their vegetables with water that has the bacteria in it.

Claudette's baby boy won't get the illness from his mom. Lindmeier says breastfeeding infants are among the safest part of the population, because their food system is less open. Nonetheless, he says, the disease is on the move in Haiti. "It will spread further. This is just the beginning," he says.

As neighbors and family gather around Claudette's house, the problem of sanitation seems insurmountable. Her children and family lie on a blanket in front of the house, crying silently and greeting guests. Their half-sister is inside, washing laundry in the room where Claudette took ill. Around their neighborhood, raw sewage covers the ground. Clogged, rotting canals are filled with trash and unspeakable waste.

At a neighboring Cholera Treatment Center, I find Anel waiting outside. He has been here since 6 a.m. Wednesday. His wife died more than 12 hours ago, but still no one has confirmed it. He heard the news that she died from a construction worker, who works at the treatment center and whose wife was a friend of Claudette's. Security won't let him in the clinic.

Anel's brows are stitched together in pain. He is constantly on the verge of breaking down, though he's clearly not the type to break down. He whispers that hospital officials are "playing some sort of game" with him.

Claudette's cousin Janine rails and shouts about the conspiracy of the government to kill the people, but Anel looks through her. He is somewhere far away.

After speaking with AOL News, Doctors Without Borders said Claudette's body is ready to be released. There was a bureaucratic gap, and although it is doing its best, a representative said the organization is still way behind in staff and capacity. This Cholera Treatment Center did not exist three days ago. They built it within hours. And even though it's new, and temporary, it feels scary.

Anel enters a large metal gate, then passes through two areas where he's told to lift his shoes to be sprayed with water and wash his hands. He passes three security guards. He enters a small, tent camp where orderlies walk around in head-to-toe white jumpsuits and wear face masks. In the midst of this weird, post-apocalyptic scene, a foreigner tells him that yes, his wife is dead and the body is ready to be taken home.

Anel speaks with a doctor and learns that Claudette had complications from the cholera. Her "heart melted," Anel says.

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Workers for Doctors Without Borders move Brianvil's body into a hearse Wednesday. She died at a hospital set up to treat and isolate patients with acute cholera symptoms.

He stands in the shade and waits for a hearse to arrive. Claudette's body was treated with chlorine. She is zippered into a white plastic bag. All Anel wanted was to see her one last time, but now he understands that he won't.

As the body is moved into the hearse, Anel doesn't receive any document or medical record, no advice on how to avoid the bacteria at home. No advice, either, for how to go back out into the sunlight, back to the house at Cite Soleil, where his four children are waiting for him.

He walks out into the street. It's a world where you can call your wife at 9 p.m. and she's dead the next day. Wash your hands, they say.