The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina is readily apparent from the dramatic aerial views of home, building and property destruction. While the immediate focus of emergency workers has been on saving lives and unfortunately retrieving the dead, a less visible, but potentially long-lasting round of health threats emerge in the form of waterborne diseases.
 
Experts warn that as sewage plants have been overrun by the flood the water is likely contaminated with bacteria, viruses and parasites - E. coli, cholera, salmonella, dysentery and hepatitis A - any of which can cause potentially life-threatening diarrhea and stomach infections. There is also fear that the water is or soon will be contaminated by toxic chemicals from gasoline, industrial wastes, agricultural runoff and garbage.
 
Dr. Charles Mitchell, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Miami medical school, warns on the public health dangers, "It looks like the public sanitation system in New Orleans and the southern Gulf Coast has been compromised." Although Mitchell says it is too early to fear an outbreak of illness, he believes local authorities have a daunting task at hand.
 
Although skin contact with the floodwaters alone won't cause illness, any minor cuts or scrapes could cause infections or even tetanus. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report eating or drinking anything contaminated, even holding food in an unwashed hand, can cause infections.
 
"The public health problems left in the path of Hurricane Katrina are indeed enormous. Getting an adequate supply of potable water and providing a means for people to wash their hands before handling and ingesting food will be an important initial step in preventing many of these infections that are transmitted by oral ingestion," said Jack D. Bissett MD, member of myDNA.com's Medical Advisory Board and Austin infectious disease specialist. He continued, "The crowded living conditions in the shelters also create serious challenges in preventing the spread of communicable diseases."
 
The floodwaters will probably cause the growth of mold, which can affect respiratory conditions such as asthma or emphysema and the standing water will undoubtedly breed a swarm of mosquitoes which could harbor the West Nile Virus.
 
One issue that turns out to be more hype than reality is the fear that dead bodies will add to water contamination as public health officials report disease-carrying organisms do not live on dead bodies.
 

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