DGHI affiliate Deborah Jenson, professor of romance studies who co-directs the Duke Haiti Humanities Lab, published a new article with student researchers in the November issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases which explores the presence and spread of Cholera in the Caribbean Islands throughout history.  

Medical journals and other sources do not show evidence that cholera occurred in Haiti before 2010, despite the devastating effect of this disease in the Caribbean region in the 19th century.

The Caribbean region experienced cholera in 3 major waves: 1833-1834, 1850-1856 and 1865-1872. In the 3 pandemics that involved the Caribbean in the 19th century, Jenson and the Haiti Lab team found no medical or lay reports of cholera in Haiti, the Netherlands Antilles of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao; the Cayman Islands; and St. Martin, St. Barthélemy, or Montserrat. Of these sites, Haiti is the largest and most densely populated and was a close neighbor of hard-hit Cuba and Jamaica.

Conditions associated with slavery and colonial military control were absent in independent Haiti. In other locations of the Caribbean, clustered populations, regular influx of new persons, and close quarters of barracks living contributed to spread of cholera. In the article, Jenson and Haiti Lab student researchers provide historical accounts of the presence and spread of cholera epidemics in Caribbean islands.

Historical Context for Cholera in Haiti
Although it is difficult to confirm the absence of a disease in an earlier era, this report explores textual evidence for the immunologic status of persons to cholera in Haiti reported in scientific journals and lay journalism sources from the 19th century. It also considers the reasons that epidemic cholera failed to occur in Haiti in the 19th century even though it did affect many neighboring environments, including the Dominican Republic.

By Joy Ogunmuyiwa

Despite remarkable progress made in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer in many countries, globally, it remains the second most common cancer among women. However, recent advancements have allowed individuals to fight a smarter war against cervical cancer, tracing their success to the availability of trained clinicians, modern laboratories that target women at a higher risk of contracting cervical cancer, and researchers like Erin Dainty.

Dainty, an OB/GYN fellow in the Duke Global Health Residency/Fellowship Pathway and  Master of Science in Global Health student, gave a lunchtime talk at the Duke Global Health Institute on Friday. Her work targets HIV positive women in Kenya, where cervical cancer

has the highest incidence of any malignancy and fewer than 5% of Kenyan women get screened for it.

Through a recently awarded Fogarty International Clinical Research Fellowship, Dainty aims to assess the impact of HIV and geographic location on human papillomavirus (HPV). HIV-infected women in regions, such as Africa, appear to be infected with less prevalent types of HPV, specifically those that cause invasive cervical cancer. This fact makes studying HPV genotyping distribution in HIV-infected Kenyan women even more important.

Part of Dainty's work explores the development of effective screening programs in Eldoret and surrounding areas. Dainty plans to incorporate HPV genotyping into the screening and treatment process in Western Kenya, tailor treatment models, and build local capacity for molecular diagnostics.

During the talk, Dainty said a challenge of her clinical research will be the social implications of HPV and cervical cancer screening and diagnosis.