Emergency Preparedness – Infectious Diseases
 

    The biggest threats of infectious disease after disasters don’t come from dead or decaying bodies, or even spoiled food.  They result from failure of basic public-health services:  sewage disposal and water purification.  That means disaster victims are at risk for enteric disease – intestinal illness.  The culprits:
— E. coli:  common cause of diarrhea, cramping, diminished fluids and malnutrition.
— Vibrio cholera:  mostly eradicated in the U.S., but acquired from poorly cooked shellfish in the South.
— Salmonella caused dysentery, more harsh than E coli, brings fever, and bloody and mucousy discharges.
— Typhoid fever:  Salmonella in the bowel causes high fever and dehydration to damage other organs.
    Modern medicine deals pretty well with all of these problems by prescribing antibiotics and anti–diarrheals and by aggressively replacing lost body fluids and salts intravenously to those unable to drink.  The more distant or limited the medical care, the more personal hygiene knowledge, stored resources and vigilance against exposure are essential for survival.
    So much of medical practice depends on electrical power.  No air conditioning,  no refrigeration, limited transportation and degraded hospitals could easily return medical care to the 19^th century.  To have clean water to drink and to wash your hands with sanitizing soap could be most important until the doctor comes.
   For more information contact (your emergency preparedness specialist).
SEE THE NEED AND THEN PROCEED, TO BE PREPARED.