SANTO DOMINGO – Dominican authorities said that the number of cholera cases in the country rose to nine with the detection of two more people infected with the disease in the northern province of Santiago.

The new cases are an 11-month-old girl and a man of 25, both Haitians, Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez told reporters.

The official said that both the infant and the man are in “stable” condition and have been hospitalized.

“We have had confirmation of two new patients in Estancia del Yaque, in Navarrete, an area where there are 80 overcrowded homes and where most of the people are Haitians,” Rojas Gomez said.

The announcement of the two new cases of cholera comes on the eve of a big anti-cholera day that Dominican authorities are organizing and that will involve practically all sectors of the country.

The cholera epidemic has taken more than 1,700 lives in neighboring Haiti, and according to international organizations, it could cause as many as 4,000 deaths before it is controlled. EFE