Katrina's deadly cocktail

2005-08-31 22:10

New Orleans - Flood victims battered by Hurricane Katrina faced a silent, but equally deadly, enemy on Wednesday in toxin- and bacteria-laden waters carrying the threat of contamination and disease.

Health officials said the floodwaters whipped up by the devastating storm carried a potentially lethal cocktail of toxic chemicals, fuel and human waste.

Consumption, or in some cases simple contact with such highly contaminated water can result in diseases and ailments ranging from severe gastrointestinal illness to skin rashes and allergies.

"The threat is very serious and will only increase as the days go by without the waters receding," said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American public health association.

Particularly at risk are older people and children suffering from chronic dehydration as a result of the absence of clean drinking water and the heat and humidity of the affected region along the US Gulf coast.

"And don't forget, that's also mosquito country," Benjamin told AFP.

"So before long, you're going to get large numbers of mosquitoes breeding on the water and spreading mosquito-borne disease."

Emergency

On Tuesday, the Louisiana department of environmental quality issued an emergency declaration in order to try and speed up disaster-recovery efforts across the state.

The order was intended to expedite repairs to facilities like sewage treatment plants and drinking water facilities, as well as clean-up efforts associated with solid waste, burning debris and animal carcasses.

"After such a terrible disaster, the number one priority is human health," said department chief Mike McDaniel.

But a major barrier facing disease-prevention efforts is the total breakdown of communications in many areas, preventing the authorities from getting their messages out to the enormous number of affected people.

As well as contaminated water, another major health risk is the rapid decomposition of food in areas where power outages mean no refrigeration.

"I think you have all the conditions to create a potential public health disaster," said Carlos Del Rio from the school of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta.

Relief experts have warned that it could take weeks for the floodwaters to be pumped off the streets of cities like New Orleans, and the health risks could remain for some time after that.

A rarer but still unpleasant threat was of animal bites, particularly from snakes and rats displaced from their normal habitats by the storm.

- AFP