Lab tests released by health officials Monday confirmed that a doctor who had been returning to Miami on Thanksgiving after fighting the cholera outbreak in Haiti had the disease.
The unidentified man had become ill on an American Airlines flight that was heading to Miami International Airport from the Dominican Republic, and was met by a team of doctors when he landed at MIA Thanksgiving night.
It's the first known case of cholera in Miami-Dade County ever and just the third in Florida. The disease was eradicated in most first-world countries decades ago.
The disease is currently ravaging earthquake-torn Haiti, claiming more than 1,603 lives in the past few weeks.
Cholera is a severe diarrheal illness transmitted through fecal contamination that is especially dangerous among children and the elderly. Those infected can become too quickly dehydrated, go into shock, and die within hours.
