05/24/2010, 00.00
SRI LANKA
Send to a friend

High risk for infectious diseases and epidemics in flood aftermath

by Melani Manel Perera
Floodwaters recede slowly. Refugee camps remain overcrowded. Now, the risk for diseases and epidemics is high. People must be careful about the food they eat and about snakebites when they go home.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Floodwaters are starting to recede from the villages they submerged in the districts of Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara, western Sri Lanka. The official death toll stood at about 20 deaths and 600,000 people forced from their homes. Now, health authorities are warning against possible infections and water-borne diseases, urging people in the affected areas to drink only boiled water.

In Gampaha district, waters are receding very slowly, especially in the worst affected areas like Kelaniya, Mahara, Ja-ela and Katana, where torrential rains fell uninterruptedly for more than a week. Refugee camps remain overcrowded.

Anura Jayasinghe, an epidemiological consultant with the Health Ministry, said, “Due to flooding, garbage pollutes fresh water sources, making them contaminated. Wells, lakes and streams are highly vulnerable.”

Since direct pipe-borne water and chlorination were affected by frequent power cuts, there is a high risk for typhoid, hepatitis A, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera, chickenpox, viral flu, rabies, dengue and rat fever (Leptospirosis).

His advice is for people to monitor closely their health, careful to notice any symptoms that are typical of such diseases. Above all, everyone should boil water before drinking it.

Dr A. Balasooriva, a consultant community physician attached to the Health Education Bureau, also warned against eating fresh vegetables for the next few days, urging people to wash them well before consuming them.

Snakes are another problem. In Gampaha district alone, at least 30 people have been hospitalised because of snakebites, which they suffered especially after they went home to collect essential belongings.

Dr Teja Perera, from the Ragama Teaching Hospital, said that most of the victims were bitten by cobras and Russell’s vipers, but none died.

TAGs
Send to a friend
Printable version
CLOSE X
See also
Burmese in Thailand, refugees of the "longest civil war in the world"
19/06/2008
At lest 20 dead and more than half a million displaced by floods
22/05/2010
UN calls for aid to Sri Lanka flood victims
17/01/2011
A “silent tsunami” hitting weakest refugees
20/06/2008
Meningitis outbreak, authorities urge calm
03/02/2005


Newsletter

Subscribe to Asia News updates or change your preferences

Subscribe now
“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”