Can someone explain about these diseases people will get?

[TexasLady]

I don't understand what sorts of diseases the victims are susceptible to.

I understand that dead bodies, feces, etc cause sickness but exactly what kinds? I mean, this is so foreign to me! And what do these diseases do to a person in these situations?

[Captain Hilts]

1. Typhoid [feces in water], diptheria and cholera [from corpses]. I think..

that's how it works.

[bettyellen]

2. cholera... that mosquito thing...parasites, toxic poisoning from chemicals

food poisoning... any of them could kill you if you don't have help.

[Richard D]

3. Cholera and typhoid . . .

. . . are the probably the worst water born diseases that will show up. Pretty horrid stuff.

[kestrel91316]

12. You need to ingest (take in by mouth) the water to get these.

[niyad]

4. I asked the same sort of questions earlier, and got this infomation

http://www.cdc.gov/az.do

[NYC Liberal]

5. From Wikipedia:

Aside from the lack of water, food, shelter, and sanitation facilities, there is growing concern that the prolonged flooding will lead to an outbreak of health problems for those who remain in hurricane-affected areas. In addition to dehydration and food poisoning, there is also a potential for West Nile virus, St. Louis Encephalitis, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, cholera and typhoid fever, all related to the growing contamination of food and drinking water supplies in the area. The longer these people are stranded in the searing heat the more will perish from the aforementioned causes. President Bush has declared a public health emergency for the entire Gulf Coast and Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt announced that the DHHS will be setting up a network of 40 medical shelters to speed the relief efforts. There is concern the chemical plants and refineries in the area could have released their contents into the flood waters. People who suffer from allergies or lung disorders, such as asthma, will have health complications due to toxic mold and airborne irritants. In Gulfport, Mississippi, several hundred tons of chicken and uncooked shrimp were washed out of their containers at the nearby harbor and could have contaminated the water table.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. Cholera kills in hours. Severe diarrhea.

A person who is already dehydrated wouldn't stand much of a chance.
Thousands could die in a day.

[porphyrian]

13. Factoid about cholera...

During this country's slavery period, some Blacks in the South avoided dying from cholera because they ate the Georgia clay (probably because they weren't fed well and were undernurished). Apparently, the build-up in their digestive systems prevented or diminished the diarrhea. While I'm not prescribing this as a solution, I just thought of it when I saw this thread.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Actually, the experts are worried about TB...

In a city swallowed by water, public- health officials warn that the most serious threat to the people still trying to survive in New Orleans is, ironically, the lack of water - specifically, clean drinking water.

Despite appalling images including floating corpses and bloated animal carcasses, which have triggered worst-case fears in a stunned nation watching on TV, public-health experts say the odds of a massive disease epidemic like cholera or typhus or malaria in the Gulf states are extremely slim. Those terrifying water- and insect-borne diseases have been essentially dormant in the United States for decades.

Some doctors have raised concerns about tuberculosis, noting that if any of the thousands of people camped out at the Superdome since Sunday had an active case, anyone nearby could have become infected.

TB, where it exists in the United States, tends to affect poor people in urban areas. And, with the stress and exhaustion of the last few days, hurricane refugees are likely to have diminished immune systems.

...

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/12540832.htm

[antigone382]

17. My microbiology professor said something different.

"public-health experts say the odds of a massive disease epidemic like cholera or typhus or malaria in the Gulf states are extremely slim. Those terrifying water- and insect-borne diseases have been essentially dormant in the United States for decades."

According to my professor, those diseases are not dormant because they aren't present; they're dormant because we clean water before we drink it. Cholera and other diseases like it are endemic...they are always present, even if they aren't affecting the population at a particular time. There are still individual cases of cholera and typhus in America, but they're extremely rare, because of our water sanitation system.

[ultraist]

8. Bacterial infections are common

And as someone noted, diarrhea, often causes by bacterial infections, can be deadly as people dehydrate quickly. Children are the most susceptible from dying from acute diarrhea.

In third world countries, thousands of children die from rotavirus and other illnesses that cause severe diarrhea.

When I volunteered in Eastern NC, after the floods, I contracted bacterial pneumonia and was very ill, for weeks.

[Pepper32]

9. Oh, I can't stand this... we need a One Million Car "March" to ...

get those people out of there. The Goverment is dragging their feet, where is the outrage from citizens?

And now the media has been Roved again :grr:

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. If the government wanted to get the people out of NO

that are at the Superdome and the Convention Center they would have been gone four days ago.

They are keeping them there and treating them like animals on purpose. Even if they had no where to go, there is no reason why they do not have plenty of food and water at this point. There is an open highway from the west into town. The road is clear and there is no traffic on it because it is closed. These people are being held prisoners and will most certainly die has a result. This is exactly what Bush and Co want.

[jim3775]

10. More info from wikipedia

Cholera:

Transmission

Cholera is transmitted through ingestion of substances contaminated with the bacterium. The contamination usually occurs when untreated sewage is released into waterways, affecting the water supply, any foods washed in the water, and shellfish living in the affected waterway — it is only rarely spread directly from person to person. The resulting diarrhea allows the bacterium to spread to other people under unsanitary conditions.

Symptoms

Symptoms include those of general GI tract upset (diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting) along with those of the resulting dehydration (thirst, muscle cramps, weakness, loss of tissue turgor, sunken eyes and wrinkled skin, severe metabolic acidosis with potassium depletion, anuria, circulatory collapse and cyanosis). Death is through circulatory volume shock, and can occur within hours.

Treatment


Prevention

Although cholera can be life-threatening, it is easily prevented and treated. In the United States, because of advanced water and sanitation systems, cholera is not a major threat. The last major outbreak of cholera in the United States was in 1911. However, everyone, especially travelers, should be aware of how the disease is transmitted and what can be done to prevent it.

Simple sanitation is usually sufficient to stop an epidemic. There are several points along the transmission path at which the spread may be halted:
Sickbed: Proper disposal and treatment of waste produced by cholera victims.
Sewage: Treatment of general sewage before it enters the waterways.
Sources: Warnings about cholera contamination posted around contaminated water sources.
Sterilization: Boiling, filtering, and chlorination of water before use.

Filtration and boiling is by far the most effective means of halting transmission. In general, education and sanitation are the limiting factors in prevention of cholera epidemics.

Typhoid:

Typhoid fever is an illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi. Very common worldwide, it is transmitted by food or water contaminated with feces from an infected person. After infection, symptoms include a high fever from 103° to 104°F (39° to 40°C) that rises slowly , slow pulse rate (bradycardia), weakness, headaches, lack of appetite, severe diarrhea, stomach pains, and a rash of flat, rose-colored spots called the rose spots. Extreme symptoms such as intestinal perforation or haemorrhage, delusions, and confusion also are possible.

...

When untreated, typhoid fever persists for three weeks to a month. Death occurs in between 10% and 30% of untreated cases.

[CountAllVotes]

11. hepatitis, tubercululosis, etc.

and those with compromised immune system and those using drugs that lower your immune system or suppress it are at praticular risk.

This is a health crisis in the making. That is why they won't let the people leave. The incubation period well past. Soon people when begin to get sick, very sick.

[Lindsay]

15. So you keep them there for days to develop the diseases,

and then don't let them out "so it won't spread."

Nifty little system BushCo has going there.

Fucking ghouls.

[CountAllVotes]

19. yep, in a nutshell that is it

sorry for all of the mistakes in my post. I don't see very well and I know all about the "compromised immune system" thing. This means people on chemotherapy (costs a lot of $ and they are sick and costing a lot of money now). Might be best to off the lot of them I often think. :tinfoilhat: I'll admit this, but is it really necessary? What do you think?

:kick:

[Lindsay]

16. Oops, dupe.

Sorry.

[despairing optimist]

14. Also, if there are PCBs and dioxin in the water people wade through,

they can develop skin and central nervous disorders as well as cancer. I think dioxin poisoning can be spread congenitally too. The chemical toxins have been dispersed throughout the city. When the water subsides, those chemicals will remain in the soil and likely would contaminate any fruits or vegetables grown in it. If people sink wells for fresh water, they should have them tested regularly because even though they may be safe at first, contaminants can seep into groundwater from other areas.

New Orleans will never be the same. There were well-known environmental risks before the flooding, and now the lid has come off Pandora's box. Someone in another thread compared the situation to Chernobyl's radiation fallout, and sadly I think it's a fair comparison.

[CountAllVotes]

20. you got it

it is very evil and people are dying. My God, what can we do? I feel so powerless.

:( :(

[despairing optimist]

21. That's the way the powerful want you to feel. Don't give in or give up.

They're already showing the true stuff they're made of. As soon as the scandalous news, photos, and videos reached the MSM and the public, and the outrage grew from people who finally awakened from their consumerist and misinformed slumber, Bush and his stoogie Congress flaks got a $10 billion relief package ready to roll.

Keep up the struggle. We have them on the run at long last, and at such a cost. Do it for all those people we feel powerless to help. Do it for all those people who died so needlessly. It's up to all of us to make good come out of this tragedy. We're all awake now. No more excuses from us, and no more from our government!

[Rose Siding]

22. A rpt said all the children at the Dome had rashes-

Maybe from the fetid water? or is that a symptom of something else?