According to a CNN news report, the Haitian government has informed that the death toll has risen to “at least 1344” and has “sickened nearly 57,000”.

Predictions of the international health officials appear to be coming true given the epic proportion to which the outbreak has reached. The officials estimated that the scale of the cholera epidemic will exceed initial estimates of 20,000 during the upcoming months.

Health workers say the Haitian population lacks immunity to cholera and Haitian medical workers lack experience treating the infection because the bacterium has not been detected on the island in more than a century.

“Having seen how the bacteria is behaving in this environment with these people, having seen just how poor and how hungry the people are, we know we have to revise our numbers up,” said Nyka Alexander, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, in a phone call with CNN.

The country’s hospitals and clinics have been overwhelmed as they seek to provide treatment for the hundreds of infected persons seeking medical attention.

Meanwhile, the Federation of St. Christopher and Nevis continues to be in a heightened state of observation and preparedness in the event that the cholera bacterium reaches its doors.

Medical officials here have indicated that the bacterium is transmitted when a person comes in contact with and ingests the infected person faeces.

To date, one case of cholera has been recorded in the Dominican Republic and one in Florida.

(Portions of this article were contributed by CNN).