The recent cholera epidemic in Haiti provides a current example. In early December 2010, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity Mortality and Weekly Report announced that the outbreak had spread nationwide. At that time, the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) reported 91,770 cases of cholera, including 43,243 hospitalizations and 2071 deaths. Deaths occur "as rapidly as 2 hours after symptom onset and [identify] important gaps in access to life-saving treatments, including oral rehydration solution (ORS)." 5 Disentangling Haiti's dire health condition from historical, political, and economic concerns leads to the characterization of the epidemic as a medical disaster stemming from the twin natural disasters Haiti suffered in the last year: a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent flooding from Hurricane Tomas. However, a narrative that uses phrases such as medical and natural implies inevitability and general inculpability. A more careful reading of the context in which the cholera outbreak has occurred proves such ahistorical views misleading.