You knew it was “when”, not “if”.
A passenger from the Dominican Republic (the other half of the island that contains Haiti) arrived in Miami displaying symptoms of cholera. Cholera is a baterial infection transmitted by contamination of drinking water with fecal matter. Cholera is believed to have been spread to Haiti by peacekeepers from Nepal, a part of the world even less civilized than Haiti.
Since we generally don’t poop outdoors and generally get water from sources that are chlorinated to kill bacteria, it’s not likely to set off a massive epidemic here. The last outbreak of cholera in the United States was in 1910/11.
Between 1995 and 2000, there were 35 confirmed cases of Cholera in the U.S. – mostly from people bringing it into the country.
Of course, it could be a justifcation for an entire new round of “homeland security” precautions. You can never be too safe.
* Supplmental information. The Miami Herald reports the passenger arrived Thursday evening. He is a doctor who has been in Haiti treating people – and he self-reported that he believed he was showing the symptoms of cholera. Earlier this month, there was one confirmed case of cholera in the Miami area (who recovered) and one case that has not been confirmed.
I believe we can expect an increasingly wide and interesting variety of afflictions to be vectored throughout our country on the wings of an increasingly wide and interesting variety of alien invaders. This is not rocket science, but it is politics.