Are flood victims threatened by an epidemic? If so, what can they do to prevent it? Especially since some of the threats are diseases for which there is no vaccine? Huge amounts of pollution enter homes with the flood wave. Can they be a he alth hazard?
Doesflood threaten with epidemic ? How big isepidemiological threat after floodin reality? The flood wave carries many pollutants, including human and animal faeces from septic tanks, cowsheds and sewage treatment plants. There are various chemical substances, toxic compounds, often radioactive and many others, the origin of which is difficult to establish.
Read: How To Avoid Food Poisoning
Dirty water is full of dangerous viruses, bacteria, fungi and various parasites. And although the water will ease over time, the dangers will remain. Even inhaling the vapors released from the flood sludge poses a risk of allergic diseases and chemical poisoning.
Read: After the flood: what to do with food
It should also be taken into account that the victims of flooding, mainly due to strong mental experiences, but also hunger, insufficient sleep, under-eating, hypothermia, have a weakened immune system. And the easier it is to "catch" all diseases, not only those that may appear after a flood.
Post-flood epidemic: sources of danger
The most dangerous are those infectious diseases with high fever, diarrhea, headaches and dizziness. These includediarrhea caused by Escherichia coli , specifically those strains that can be life-threatening. There is no vaccine for them.
In flood-damaged areas, cholera can occur, which manifests itself as sudden diarrhea without abdominal pain and without fever and vomiting. In this case, the vaccine should be given. Untreated cholera in 10-50 percent. may end in death.
Diseases that may appear in flood areas, for which there is no vaccine, include:
- dysentery(mucous, bloody stools, the disease spreads rapidly in epidemics)
- jersiniosis(watery diarrhea, often misdiagnosed as appendicitis)
- leptospirosis(high fever, headaches and muscle aches,especially ud)
- listeriosis(fever with severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, neck stiffness)
- zoonotic salmonellosis(abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, blood may appear in the stool)
- viral gastroenteritis(fever, vomiting, watery diarrhea, muscle aches)
- botulism(visual disturbance, dry mouth, diarrhea, then constipation).
Diseases against which vaccines exist and should be given to flood victims as soon as possible, apart from cholera, include:
- typhoid(flu-like symptoms, also delirium, after a few days pale pink spots appear on the stomach),
- tetanus(feeling of general breakdown, increased muscle tension, lockjaw, tightness of the body),
- hepatitis A(flu-like symptoms, dark urine, light stools, most often jaundice).
Both in cases where vaccination can be used, and in cases where vaccination does not exist, it is necessary to initiate as soon as possible preventive measures. Hence, it is so important to read all the messages of the sanitary and epidemiological services.
It is also worth stocking up on basic over-the-counter medications, which can be useful in such situations, such as: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs, eye drops, sore throat tablets, indigestion tablets, diarrhea and constipation tablets.