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Outbreaks of disease could cause more deaths in earthquake-ravaged Haiti
18/01/2010 2:49:00 AM
Sheryl Ubelacker, Health Reporter,
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Still reeling from the devastation wrought by this week's earthquake, the people of Haiti now face another foe, unseen but potentially just as deadly.
Pestilence, one of the apocalyptic horsemen that follow in the wake of any natural disaster, is silently lurking, waiting to strike.
Contaminated water, untreated festering wounds and disease-carrying insects could all combine to further ravage the population with a host of diseases, experts say.
"It's a very serious problem and there could be in theory - and it's only theoretical - there could be thousands of people who do badly, they die or become very ill," said Dr. Jay Keystone, a tropical disease expert at Toronto General Hospital.
The impoverished country has been plagued by water-and mosquito-borne diseases for years, in large part because of poor health-care and inadequate infrastructure, said Keystone. "But what's going to happen now, because the water (supply) is interrupted, because they're not going to have purified water, then you run the risk of enteric, or gastrointestinal, infections."
"They don't have cholera there, but they have E. coli and a whole bunch of other ones," he said, listing salmonella, shigella and campylobacter among the bugs that can wreak havoc on the intestines of people already weakened by trauma and lack of food.
"So you may see major outbreaks of enteric disease, and that could be a major problem over the next few weeks."
Dr. Bonnie Henry, an infectious disease expert at the B.C. Centres for Disease Control in Vancouver, said E. coli can be among the most deadly. Carried in feces, the bacteria can end up contaminating both water and food, she said.
"There are many different types of E. coli, so it causes everything from just an explosive, watery diarrhea to a very severe infection with bloody diarrhea and kidney failure."
Typhoid, caused by a strain of salmonella, is also a huge worry in Haiti, noted Keystone. "That can be very severe and in theory they could have outbreaks of typhoid occurring very soon, again because they're not going to have access to clean food and water."
18/01/2010 2:49:00 AM
Sheryl Ubelacker, Health Reporter,
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Still reeling from the devastation wrought by this week's earthquake, the people of Haiti now face another foe, unseen but potentially just as deadly.
Pestilence, one of the apocalyptic horsemen that follow in the wake of any natural disaster, is silently lurking, waiting to strike.
Contaminated water, untreated festering wounds and disease-carrying insects could all combine to further ravage the population with a host of diseases, experts say.
"It's a very serious problem and there could be in theory - and it's only theoretical - there could be thousands of people who do badly, they die or become very ill," said Dr. Jay Keystone, a tropical disease expert at Toronto General Hospital.
The impoverished country has been plagued by water-and mosquito-borne diseases for years, in large part because of poor health-care and inadequate infrastructure, said Keystone. "But what's going to happen now, because the water (supply) is interrupted, because they're not going to have purified water, then you run the risk of enteric, or gastrointestinal, infections."
"They don't have cholera there, but they have E. coli and a whole bunch of other ones," he said, listing salmonella, shigella and campylobacter among the bugs that can wreak havoc on the intestines of people already weakened by trauma and lack of food.
"So you may see major outbreaks of enteric disease, and that could be a major problem over the next few weeks."
Dr. Bonnie Henry, an infectious disease expert at the B.C. Centres for Disease Control in Vancouver, said E. coli can be among the most deadly. Carried in feces, the bacteria can end up contaminating both water and food, she said.
"There are many different types of E. coli, so it causes everything from just an explosive, watery diarrhea to a very severe infection with bloody diarrhea and kidney failure."
Typhoid, caused by a strain of salmonella, is also a huge worry in Haiti, noted Keystone. "That can be very severe and in theory they could have outbreaks of typhoid occurring very soon, again because they're not going to have access to clean food and water."
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