AP: Water Pollution (Cholera) a Concern in New Orleans

[leveymg]

Water Pollution a Concern in New Orleans By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer
Tue Sep 6,10:40 PM ET


Four people may have died of a waterborne bacterial infection circulating in Hurricane Katrina's flood waters, and health officials took steps Tuesday to stem spread of a diarrhea-causing virus among refugees in Houston's Astrodome.

The deaths appear to have been caused by Vibrio vulnificus, a (cholera-related) germ common in warm Gulf Coast waters that's usually spread by eating contaminated food but that can penetrate open wounds, too. The deaths — one a hurricane refugee evacuated to Texas, the other three in Mississippi — were attributed to wound infections, said Tom Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which received the reports from officials in the two states.

The reports underscore advice issued by federal health officials Tuesday: Rescue workers and anyone left in hurricane-ravaged areas should try to limit direct skin contact with flood waters; seek immediate medical attention if they have cuts or other wounds exposed to the dirty water; and wash their hands frequently.

Officials in Houston's Astrodome handed out alcohol-based hand sanitizers Tuesday to help prevent spread of norovirus, an easily spread cause of diarrhea and vomiting. Officials isolated some refugees with the illness, made infamous by recent cruise-ship outbreaks, although they couldn't provide an exact count. There is no treatment except to keep sufferers hydrated; it normally lasts a few days.

There are no large outbreaks yet attributed to the hurricane, but infection control within shelters housing thousands of evacuees is a top priority, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC's director.

Wounds infected by submersion in New Orleans floodwaters tainted with raw sewage and other bacteria are common, however. Gerberding said Tuesday that another concern is whether those waters also were contaminated with toxic chemicals from hurricane damage to nearby factories.

The Environmental Protection Agency began testing what is in the water, with the first results expected by week's end.

That's a key question for a new federal task force of medical and environmental authorities who began setting up Tuesday at Kindred Hospital in New Orleans, to monitor for disease outbreaks and "begin to make judgments about when New Orleans is safe to reinhabit," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

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What is Vibrio vulnificus?
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/vibriovulnif ...

Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium in the same family as those that cause cholera. It normally lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of vibrios that are called "halophilic" because they require salt.

What type of illness does V. vulnificus cause?

V. vulnificus can cause disease in those who eat eat contaminated seafood or have an open wound that is exposed to seawater. Among healthy people, ingestion of V. vulnificus can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In immunocompromised persons, particularly those with chronic liver disease, V. vulnificus can infect the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock), and blistering skin lesions. V. vulnificus bloodstream infections are fatal about 50% of the time.

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This is the part that applies most to rescue workers:


V. vulnificus can cause disease in those who . . . have an open wound that is exposed to seawater. . . V. vulnificus can infect the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock), and blistering skin lesions. V. vulnificus bloodstream infections are fatal about 50% of the time.

Anyone climbing around in storm-damaged structures is going to be at great risk of cuts, scrapes, punctures and other wounds that will likely be exposed to contaminated seawater.

What should that tell us? If your job was to protect life and safety of personnel under your command, would you order your people into storm water-filled structures to search for bodies? Hell, no.

This tells me that it is unlikely that were will be a large-scale recovery effort to recover bodies inside structures. The approach will then be, in some areas, to demolish and burn the debris.

This is one reason why the authorities are now trying really hard to get everyone to leave New Orleans. No cameras, please.

[Ganja Ninja]

1. A semi load of pool chlorine would go a long way in cutting ...

down the bacteria count. Wonder if anyone a FEMA has given it any thought?

[leveymg]

2. Maybe several supertanker loads

There are hundreds of square miles still under water in and around NOLA.

[Ganja Ninja]

3. Not trying to clean up the whole delta.

a box car load in the city it self wouldn't hurt.