( CNN ) -- Cholera has arrived in the Dominican Republic , and so have fear and worry . The bacterial intestinal disease has already killed more than 1,100 people in neighboring Haiti and hospitalized more than 18,000 others . Dominican officials said Tuesday the first case has been detected in their nation -- a 32-year-old Haitian construction worker who returned Friday to the Dominican Republic from a visit to his homeland . Although the lone reported case is the result of a migrant bringing the disease into the country and is not related to local water or food contamination , many Dominicans are still worried . `` Yes , yes . Of course , '' said Yehenny Rodriguez , a private security guard who lives in Santo Domingo , the nation 's capital . `` There 's much worry in the country . This is a strong disease that people get easily . `` Everybody 's talking about it . '' Asked if people are concerned , Dominican physician Martin Madera had a succinct and emphatic answer : `` Indisputably , yes . '' Officials in the Dominican Republic , which already has a strained public health system , have issued a maximum health alert . The disease , which can cause deadly diarrhea and vomiting , is contracted by ingesting contaminated food or water . Dominicans are being urged to wash their hands often and to be careful about what they eat and drink . All forms of media -- television , radio , newspapers , social networks -- are being employed to get the word out , said Madera . `` The most important thing is that the population be advised , '' Madera said . Rodriguez said Wednesday he is taking that advice seriously -- washing his hands often and not eating any food that was n't prepared at home , especially street food . Many others are following the same practice , he said . The World Health Organization rates the Dominican Republic 's health system as the 51st most efficient among 191 countries . That ranking places it in a lower position than the United Kingdom ( No . 18 ) and the United States ( No . 37 ) , but higher than South Korea ( No . 58 ) and Mexico ( No . 61 ) . Madera , who spent two weeks treating patients in Haiti after January 's deadly earthquake , is confident that the Dominican health system can handle an outbreak -- up to a certain point . `` We have sufficient medicine and medical institutions that can handle cases that may come up -- for now , '' he said Wednesday . And Dominican authorities , he said , are taking a proactive approach . Efforts are being made to investigate passengers who were on the same bus in which the ill Haitian traveled to the Dominican Republic last week . Also , he said , all reported cases of diarrhea are being investigated . `` Haitians with diarrhea get greater interest , '' Madera said . The Dominican Republic Ministry of Public Health is receiving help in contingency planning and implementation from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , said Todd Haskell , spokesman for the USAID office in Santo Domingo . The CDC also is assisting the public health ministry in establishing laboratory testing for cholera , Haskell said in an e-mail . Both agencies started offering their assistance October 22 , the spokesman said . Despite Madera 's confidence that the Dominican Republic can handle an outbreak , he said , `` it can reach a point where it can overtake a nation 's capacity to treat it . '' Should that occur , he said , a public state of emergency would be declared and private physicians and health institutions would be called upon to join the battle . For now , he said , the situation is under control . The ill patient , identified as Wilmo Louwes , was hospitalized and immediately isolated in the town of Higuey , near the eastern resort city of Punta Cana , Dominican Republic . No firm numbers exist for how many Haitians and Haitian-descended Dominicans live and work in the Dominican Republic . The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights placed the number in 1999 as 500,000 to 700,000 . Human Rights Watch reported in 2001 that the head of the Dominican army estimated there were about 1 million Haitians in the Dominican Republic . The Haitian embassy in the Dominican Republic gave a similar figure that year . A widespread cholera outbreak could prove devastating for the Dominican Republic if tourists decide to stay away , because the Caribbean island nation relies heavily on tourism . In 2004 , for example , the nation of 9 million inhabitants had 4.2 million tourists , the Central Bank and the Ministry of Tourism reported . Of those tourists , more than 4.2 million came by air and more than 455,000 were cruise ship passengers . The services sector of the economy , which includes tourism , employs about 64 percent of the workforce and contributes 55 percent of the gross domestic product , the measure of the nation 's services and products .
NEW : USAID and the CDC are offering aid , a Haitian spokesman says . Haiti : A cholera outbreak could damage the nation 's tourism industry . The spokesman is a Haitian man who works in the Dominican Republic . People are worried and ` ` everybody 's talking about it , '' a Dominican spokesman says .