Louisiana Health Threat

[Janice]

So, how much of a threat is the standing water in New Orleans. Some are saying it could be deadly and others are saying it is not an immediate threat.

What do you think?

[Miss Mary]

I personally believe it's a bad cocktail of possibly deadly forms of disease. I'm no expert but if dead bodies have been floating about, raw sewage has been mixed in, then oil on top of that, well, yes it is deadly. I have a compromised immune system now, a chronic symptom from having had colon cancer in 1999. For example our community pool was infected with that nasty crypto intestinal strain, and they had to close it for a few days. My family joked I could be the family's guinea pig or coal mine canary - send me in first, if I don't come down with it, the water must be safe. Oh sure, send me in first...... But seriously, even I were a trained cleanup professional I could not volunteer down there right now. If I just eat one piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing, I'm in the loo, to put it nicely, for days. I shudder to think what what's left behind on the streets of NO would do to me. And yes, I am glad to know I do not live down there. I think you'd have to hook me up to a permanent IV for a while! Please know I mean no disrespect by revealing the way I have to eat and how grateful I am to live north of this area. My heart is aching for all displaced people. I do think if I had lived in NO, I would be now relocating far, far away from there. I would just have to. There are probably others like me that have to as well (cancer survivors, older, ill people, with fragile immune systems).

Mary

[Janice]

I do think it is too early to tell now. Even the experts are not quite sure of the health outcomes. When you have a whole city under water, anything could happen and may not show up for months or years.

[chicagopizza]

I heard this morning that one expert says the main problem tends to be mold, but, honestly, this is so much different. I do not know how houses will be inhabitable again if the "toxic sludge", which is supposed to be a health risk to touch, is embedded in the floorboards and walls. But they say that from the testing they have done, this is something that will dissipate with time. I hope they are right.

On a side note, Harry Connick, Jr. is really impressing me these days. He is going to be an "ambassador" of sorts for a long term project with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes in that area - it would be nice if it included Mississippi (sp?), but I am not sure if it does.

[Miss Mary]

Yup, Harry Connick, Jr is impressing me too. And even Sean Penn, in his ill fated attempt to reach victims. At least he tried! I'll say it again, this was a moment Tom Cruise could have erased any negative press he's generated recently. Of all the celebs helping out or donating funds, I still haven't come across his name, yet that is. I'd rather he give freely and generously, not for a pulbicity stunt. But his name popped in my head first and foremost when someone said what about the celebs...who will step forward to help?

I can't imagine the homes being safe to live in either. Imagine raising a baby in one of these homes - they put everything in their mouths! I fear that 15, 20 years from now, families that did move back, will have all sorts of health complications from breathing in that muck. Or residue left from it.

Mary

[chicagopizza]

Mary,

I agree. We don't have kids, so I always think in terms of our dogs, who lick the floor and used to lick the walls. (I know, kind of wierd.) I won't even live in a place that may have lead based paint because of them and this is so much worse. But, babies and kids, gosh, that does not seem healthy at all.

[Persepone]

I think the health hazards are varied and complex and will not be easily dealt with.

For people who came in direct contact with the flood water, they could get all sorts of bacteria/viruses--through swallowing, through a cut or sore, etc. But remember that not everyone "exposed" comes down with something... But there is some nasty stuff out there.

Then there are the chemical hazards. We could see the "oil slicks" on the flood waters as we watched the rescues, etc. on TV. God only knows what types of chemicals were in those "oil slicks." And again, some people are more sensitive to those chemicals than others. Furthermore, I suspect that chemical exposure is cumulative over a lifetime... So people who do not have any immediate reaction may develop some extreme sensitivity in 15 or 20 years because they got a big dose of something and did not even know it. What the effect is depends upon their general health, what the specific chemical was, etc.

What about pesticide runoff, etc. into the water? Some of those pesticides have very long lives... and they are very, very poisonous.

Some illnesses are not a direct result of flood waters so much as being in close proximity with people carrying diseases, etc. If you are in close quarters with thousands of people, poor sanitation, etc. who knows what you could have been exposed to. And there's all sorts of stuff that is "contagious"--anything from athletes foot to influenza or worse. Hepatitis comes to mind... Staph infections of various sorts?

Then there are dangers from insect-borne illnesses. I understand that you can get all sorts of things from mosquito bites--from EEE (Equine Encephalitis) to West Nile Virus to Typhoid to things like Yellow Fever. I've no idea what diseases mosquitoes and other insects in that area carry--and perhaps out of 200 mosquitoes only 5 will carry the disease--but if one of those 5 mosquitoes bites someone... And there may be other disease-carrying insects as well.

There are also health hazards from poisonous snakes, etc. And do they have tularemia (spelling? -- "rabbit fever") down there? If a dead animal with "rabbit fever" falls in your well, I know you can get it, so presumably if it is in flood waters and you ingest any (e.g., by swimming in it) you might get it. etc. etc. etc. I've no idea whether you could get salmonella if infected (dead) chickens are in those flood waters, but my guess would be yes.

As for things like mold, again, some are more sensitive to them than others, but in the end, exposure will almost certainly make those people more susceptible to problems in the future when they encounter those molds again...

So there is no simple answer to that question.

Would it keep me out of the water if I were a rescuer, etc.? Probably not, although I would be aware of the exposure in the future.

Would it influence my decision to rebuild or repair a house? Probably. It does not mean that I would not do so, but I would get a pretty comprehensive assessment before I did so.

[GalvestonDuck]

They reported last night that mosquitoes were biting the dead bodies also. So, there's a whole other world of stuff for which we have to be on the lookout.

[TexasStooge]

Not good!!!

[canegrl04]

Read the post below (CDC: 5 People Dead From Contaminated Water)

Its already begun to kill people

[Cookiely]

Vibrio vulnificus is the disease they died of. Its a form of cholera but not as deadly. The horrible thing other than the vomiting, diarrhea, and septicemia which is blood poisoning, is the wounds which look like a form of the flesh eating bacteria. Some of the wounds I've seen on google are horrible. I keep thinking of all those people walking in that water and I get so sad, especially the children.