Women collect water next to their tents in a refugee camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Wednesday. A month-old cholera epidemic in Haiti has killed at least 1,000 people and hospitalized thousands. (Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press)

A Calgary-based water expert says cholera is spreading quickly in Haiti because of misinformation and fear.

Olivier Mills, international technical adviser with Calgary's Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST), just returned from the Caribbean country on Wednesday night.

He said cholera is new to Haiti, adding that some people see it as a curse and as something that can't be controlled.

The Pan American Health Organization said in a statement this week that 1,100 people have died and more than 18,000 have been hospitalized since the cholera outbreak began in Haiti late last month.

Mills said people in rural areas don't have the basic elements needed to treat their water.

Cholera can kill people in four to eight hours, and many Haitians are at least that far away from the closest hospital.

"It can be quite devastating. People are seeing their families around them dying without being able to do anything at this stage," said Mills.

So it's his job to put out a different message, Mills said.

"Get people to treat the water any way they can, filter their water through their cloth … or even a few drops of household bleach can help chlorinate and help disinfect the water," he said.

That information — teaching people how to filter their own water — is being spread through the radio and text messaging.

Mills said the non-profit organization plans to go back to Haiti before December.

CAWST has working there since 2005, trying to provide clean water for Haitians.