Katrina Aftermath May Bring Hepatitis, Cholera, Officials Say
 

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Katrina's aftermath may bring outbreaks of diseases through the Gulf Coast region, U.S. public health officials said.

Flooding since the hurricane struck on Aug. 29 threatens to contaminate water supplies with bacteria and to provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes that spread ailments such as the West Nile virus.

``We are gravely concerned about the potential for cholera, typhoid and dehydrating diseases that could come as a result of the stagnant water and the conditions,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said at a Washington briefing yesterday. ``We're also concerned about mosquito abatement.''

Any outbreaks would compound the effects of the storm, which killed hundreds and caused what insurers estimate may be $25 billion of damage in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Leavitt declared a public health emergency and set up the first of as many as 40 shelters near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

U.S. officials are rushing doctors and supplies to the region, hurt by contamination of water and food supplies and flood-forced hospital closings. Drugmakers are also sending donations to the affected area.

``The immediate threat is getting worse,'' said Thomas Kirsch, director of operations at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's department of emergency medicine in Baltimore, in an interview yesterday. ``I don't believe ever in American history have so many hospitals needed to close.''

At least six hospitals run by Tenet Healthcare Corp. and HCA Inc., including Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, suspended operations and evacuated patients.

Breeding Grounds

Decomposing bodies, failed sewage systems and rotting debris left by Katrina are ideal breeding grounds for bacteria, viruses and parasites, public health experts said. Chemical and industrial waste also can spread through the water supply.

Water contamination may pose a particular threat to New Orleans, about 80 percent flooded after the storm, said Dennis Juranek, a senior fellow in the Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of parasitic diseases.

``The New Orleans situation is unique because the water is trapped there,'' he said in a telephone interview yesterday. ``You've got sewage that's staying put. I've not seen that sort of flooding situation ever.'' Usually, water running through a contaminated area can flush away germs, he said.

The only solution will be to ``get safe water to people or get them out,'' Juranek said. ``If they don't get water soon, they're almost forced to drink water that wouldn't be acceptable.''

Typhoid, Cholera

New Orleans, which is below sea level, has been through some of the worst epidemics in U.S. history. A cholera outbreak killed 4,340 people in October 1832. Yellow fever killed 7,790 in 1853 and 3,093 in 1867. The same mosquito-spread disease claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people in 1878 in the lower Mississippi Valley.

Cholera, a bacterial infection in the small intestine, releases toxins that cause diarrhea. This spreads the disease and results in severe and potentially deadly dehydration. The ailment exists on the Gulf Coast, though there hasn't been an outbreak in years, said Paul Southern, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, in a telephone interview yesterday.

Typhoid fever is caused by food and water contaminated with a bacteria that can spread from the intestines through the bloodstream and multiply. A rash and spots develop on the stomach and chest, along with fever. Most people recover within a few weeks of antibiotic therapy and intravenous fluids, though some remain carriers of the disease for years.

`Mosquito Country'

The hepatitis A virus, which attacks the liver, and infectious agents such as salmonella and shigella are also present, Southern said.

``Any kind of an injury could be a worry, with bacteria getting into a cut or scrape and causing an infection that could spread,'' he said.

Standing water in the region may result in a surge of mosquitoes, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher in an interview yesterday on CNN.

``This is mosquito country,'' said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the Washington-based American Public Health Association and a former Maryland secretary of health, in a telephone interview yesterday. ``There is the risk of explosive breeding of mosquitoes, as well as rats and rodents.''

Health Secretary Leavitt said the federal government will staff 40 medical shelters with 4,000 medical professionals. The U.S. also designated 2,600 hospital beds in 12 area states and 40,000 beds nationwide, he said.

Vaccine, Infant Formula

Tenet Healthcare, the second-biggest U.S. hospital operator behind HCA, said yesterday that four of its six hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi were being evacuated. The company is moving 2,000 to 3,000 people out of the area using boats and big- wheeled trucks, company spokesman Harry Anderson said in a telephone interview from the company's Dallas headquarters.

``The hospitals are running out of water, and the sewers aren't working,'' Anderson said. ``It's a horrible situation.''

HCA said yesterday it hired 20 helicopters to deliver food, drugs and supplies while evacuating the Tulane hospital and Lakeside Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana.

Merck & Co., the third-biggest U.S. drugmaker, is shipping donated hepatitis A vaccine and antibiotics to the affected areas, spokeswoman Janet Skidmore said yesterday in a telephone interview from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Abbott Laboratories, based in Abbott Park, Illinois, yesterday more than doubled the amount of food and medical supplies it is donating, spokesman Julie Ferguson said. The company is sending $2 million of Similac infant formula, Ensure and Pedialyte nutritional drinks and ZonePerfect bars, she said in a telephone interview.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., based in New York, is donating medicines and sending Enfamil infant formula, spokesman Tony Plohoros said yesterday in a telephone interview.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...p_world _news

Did they include countless skin infections?