THE first “isolated” cases of cholera were reported in the Haitian capital, amid fears yesterday that last weekend’s hurricane rains will hasten the spread of the disease in Port-au-Prince’s squalid refugee camps.

Health chiefs are examining at least 120 suspected cases of cholera in Haiti's capital, the most significant warning sign yet that the epidemic has spread from outlying areas to threaten as many as three million people.

A cholera outbreak that already has left 250 people dead and more than 3,000 sickened is at the doorstep of an enormous potential breeding ground: the squalid camps in Port-au-Prince where 1.3 million Haiti earthquake survivors live.