Large scale outbreak of diseases because of katrina?

ok,
i dont know if this has been covered at all. but there is something that has me a bit concerned. I've been watching the news on this whole katrina thing and am constantly hearing scientists and other experts listing off diseases and what not that the people can contract from staying in the area or going in the water....especially if they have cuts of any kind. and i heard a scientist say the other day that there is this deadly mold growing near or in the water.

i realise that we had to evacuate the people out of those areas but it seems to me that it is a catch 22 situation perhaps, or at least similar to that expression. If these people have contracted things like TB, malaria, and many more, we are just spreading it all over the united states.
couldnt this cause an outbreak of diseases on a major scale?

now im not freaking out about this or anything, but ive been sitting at the Tv watching this stuff lately and i am baffled that nobody has brought this up..not the news casters, or anyone at the whitehouse. even as the experts are talking to them about the sespool of diseases that are there, i havent heard one news anchor ask whether or not scattering these people all over the USA is a health hazard.

So, medical experts of ATS and those that arent what are your thoughts on this?

Kind Regards,
DigitalGrl

if all these people

This is a very real problem in that most disease that may affect these people have an incubation period of any where from several days to several weeks. I have seen ATS members getting extremely excited over the fact that the hurricane victims are being placed in isolated holding areas, where they are not allowed to leave. Well DOH! These is why. These poor people have been exposed to some very deadly and serious stuff. They have to be isolated and watch very carefully for any outbreaks so once it is detected it can be treated quickly and properly. This is a very serious health risk for both the victims and anyone they comes in contact with. This is exactly why they cannot just go out and mingle with the rest of the population. As hard and unethethical as it may sound they have to be isolated from the rest of us for a period of time.

Now wait here a sec, most of it will come clean with a good scrubbing. But good to keep an eye on the ones who waded thru it.

And yes, this will one of the sad legacies of katrina.

Heard on the radio on the way home that five deaths are being attibuted to it and when the mosquitoes hatch so be ready, that's when we could see outbreaks.

What if all the mosquitoes were blown away? That would surely be a blessing.

The place is toxic soup though and will be uninhabitable for many years to come. Wouldn't it be nice if the toxins couldl kill off some of the viruses and enough crying will produce enough snotty noses that human anitbodies will be produced to fight this? Evolutionary events taking place in a week or two's time?

I know, that's a stretch. Yet I keep hoping for some miracle for that lovely piece of tropics, Louisiane.

My girlfriend is a contractor for FEMA security, and as of yesterday, the president put a STOP to any more relocations. We have over 10,000 beds in Oklahoma and not one refugee...

IMO that it was a concern of spreading disease vectors from the CDC that prompted the halt of relocations.

The official explanation of why they have stopped is that there were too many complaints of the victims being moved like cattle...
I would think that moving them like cattle would be better than caging them like veal...

The biggest concern would be from Dysentary a catchall for diarheal type afflictions, but that is easly contained with good handwashing.

I posted this in Valhalls thread about visiting a camp for victems:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by Valhall
[All of this makes sense to me and Springer. But I do question why taking sick people into a wilderness setting, in a confined area with 5000 people, is deemed a more appropriate action than taking them to hospitals. The camp is at least a 30 minute drive to the closest adequate hospital. The question becomes - how long will it take to get the health issues under control? Maybe FredT or some one can address that question.

CORRECTION: There are RUMORS of three dysentary outbreaks. The reason given for the lock-down is so they can figure out who is sick and who is not. That makes sense.

Okay had to do a bit of digging but the quaranteen for dysentary seems a bit iffy.

I pulled our Infectious disease doc out of rounds for a few questions:

According to him, Dysentary is a catch all for diarreal like illnesses. The culprit is usualy either amebiasis, giardia, or shigella. The first type has an incubation period of a few days to several months or years, Giardia has a incubation period of 1-4 weeks, and shigella is 1-7 days.

The first two are treated with Flagyl, the shigella is treated with an atibiotic specific to gram neagtive bacilli (ampicillin, ceftriaxone. or cipro depending on type isolated) Depending on the severity of the infection oral doses can be given.

Each one has variations that can be better or worse than others depending on the sub type of the infective agent.

However, the ID doc was perplexed about keeping them isolated for this reason. He asked specificaly if the facility they are in has hot running water, sanitary systems in place, and soap. Handwashing is the key to stopping the spread. If so there really is no need to isolate them.

He and I also question the location of the facility. From a pediatric standpoint little ones can dehydrate pretty rapidly. Did you see anything that indicated they were setting up an infirmary Val? YOu need a nurse to dispence medication and that is beyond the scope of practice for what looked like EMT's and Paramedics in your pictures. SO if someone does get sick they will have to get them out of there down those windy roads to the local hospital. ALot of these people are already symptomatic and why would you lump them in with clean or unknown people unless they were families?

Now if they are worried about Cholera thats a whole different ball game. Maybe they want to avaid a general panic and have stuck the dysentary lable on them?

I can understand Bush putting a stop to the relocation process out of a major concern of spreading diseases from the perimeter of Katrina's devastion. Relocation is necessary but along with stringent orders on personal cleanleness. If this is not done sooner than later, we all could be looking at some pretty nasty outbreaks of all kinds of nasty things spreading from the Katrina epoc.

Some officials say disease will be a problem in the wreckage, to justify the new evacuation orders, but the Center for Disease Control says no, "infectious diseases following hurricanes are rare in developed countries such as the United States."

Many officials have warned of infectious diseases from the toxic flood waters in New Orleans in coming weeks, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it did not expect serious outbreaks. ...Decaying bodies create very little risk for major disease outbreaks, and the CDC noted that outbreaks of infectious diseases following hurricanes are rare in developed countries such as the United States. It said foodborne illness such as salmonella poisoning was more likely.

IMO - the "infectious disease" hype is being pushed for 2 reasons:

1. To rationalize and justify forced evacuations; and

2. To distract from the very REAL crisis of toxins contaminating the flood waters - and the lack of filtering in the pumping operations.

.

here's a page of over 90 links...numberous items about Katrina diseases...

* Officials Worry Disease Starting to Hit Shelters
* Diseases Feared in Disaster's Aftermath
* Focus Shifts to Disease After Katrina Trauma
* Floodwaters Now Toxic Brew

plus others
...............................

Click the item : TOXIC CLEAN-UP on bottom of this page

www.cccarto.com...

www.environmentalhealthnews.org
(then click More News From Today )

yes,
someone brought up a good point about the water dumping. what are realistic/probable threats that can come from that?

and i agree that they have to be isolated but there are alot that have not been. churches are taking some in, even individual families. what is the most realistic scenario that will take place with disease concerning this issue?

do you think no major outbreak of disease will occur or is it highly possible that myself and others that arent effected directly by this hurricane will be effected by the diseases it breeds?

thanks again for all your comments,
DigitalGrl

Unfortunately, I think a considerable outbreak is inevitable.

Take any population, leave them with a contaminated water supply, and you're going to have disease.

The question is how far-reaching that will be, and how quickly can it be contained?

The Flood Waters are an extremely toxic soup of human waste, bodies, and whatever else have you. But this may sound cruel but the National Guard should shoot People who are staying because it's Prohibiting the Clean-up operation, I heard a couple days ago police and Guardsmen were being Sniped! Plus the water isnt the worst part the slime under the water's surface is whats really bad

Originally posted by Senor_Vicente
The Flood Waters are an extremely toxic soup of human waste, bodies, and whatever else have you. But this may sound cruel but the National Guard should shoot People who are staying because it's Prohibiting the Clean-up operation, I heard a couple days ago police and Guardsmen were being Sniped! Plus the water isnt the worst part the slime under the water's surface is whats really bad

Yep. That's the official line, all right.

Funny how it contradicts the original comments from the CDC - and justifies forcing all the little people out of NO, thus paving the way for cheap buyouts, land appropriations, and re-making the city as a Yuppie heaven.