Authorities in the Dominican Republic, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with cholera-stricken Haiti, have discovered a fourth case of the disease, officials said Monday.
Dominican Health Minister Bautista Rojas said the victim, a 20-year-old woman who resides in the region around the capital Santo Domingo, was being treated at a local hospital and was not considered to be in danger.
The illness was confirmed "on Saturday during a routine physical exam," Rojas told reporters.
The Dominican Republic has stepped up efforts to stop the advance of cholera from Haiti after discovering a the highly contagious disease within its own borders last week.
The first Dominican case was a 32-year-old Haitian-born man believed to have contracted the disease while on vacation in Haiti.
President Leonel Fernandez last week held an emergency strategy meeting with his cabinet to discuss ways to combat the disease, and authorities have tightened border controls.
The Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and is separated from its poorer neighbor by a porous, 376-kilometer (234-mile) border.
Haiti's health officials said Monday that at least 1,344 people have died from cholera and put the number of people who have been hospitalized with the disease at 23,377.
Two isolated cases have also been found in the US state of Florida, both people who had recently returned from Haiti.
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