“The question of who is responsible for Haiti’s cholera epidemic — the first that the Caribbean nation, the western hemisphere’s poorest, has seen in a century — has raised tempers since the first case was detected in October 2010,” TIME reports in an article examining a lawsuit filed against the U.N. claiming it is responsible for bringing the disease into the country and seeking damages for cholera victims and their families.

“The U.N. has acknowledged the suit but says it will not comment. Apart from damages, the petition also requests that the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, publicly accept responsibility for bringing in the cholera bacteria via a unit of Nepalese soldiers. To date the disease has killed more than 6,900 Haitians and infected more than half a million,” TIME writes (Ferreira, 12/13).