Rivers Chlorinated to Fight Cholera

Federal officials are pouring chlorine into three rivers in Hidalgo state in an attempt to rid them of the cholera bacteria, the daily newspaper La Jornada said Friday.

It said more than 168 people have contracted the disease in and around Huejutla, a rural town of 15,000. At least one person there has died of the disease, federal officials have said.

La Jornada said federal health officials are pouring chlorine into the Potrerillo, Tahuizan and Chinguinoso rivers. “It is preferable to kill the fish than the inhabitants,” it quoted one official as saying.

Latin America’s first cholera epidemic of the century began in Peru in January and hit Mexico in May. More than 2,000 people have died of cholera in South America, and tens of thousands have become ill.