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Straight ahead on "Our World" ... public health concerns in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans ... A step ahead in the fight against Mad Cow disease ... and harnessing the envionment to help the poorest of the poor ...
JHIRAD: "We are offering a hopeful message here, an optimistic message, but the challenge is, how do you scale it up, how do you make it embrace hundreds of millions of people, not just hundreds of thousands of people."
Those stories, decoding the chimpanzee's genetic code, and more... I'm Art Chimes. Welcome to VOA's science and technology magazine, "Our World."
Here in the United States, the news this week has been dominated by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the massive storm which brought death and destruction to New Orleans and nearby areas along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.
With much of New Orleans still under water, officials are concerned about the possible outbreak of disease and other public health factors affecting the well-being of those still in the flooded city and those who have taken refuge elsewhere, as well as others in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina.
To clarify some of the issues, I spoke with Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, which represents some 50,000 doctors and other members in various public health professions. Dr. Benjamin said there are numerous issues to watch.
BENJAMIN: "Certainly in the acute term and moderate term, we have to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning from people using portable stoves. We have to be concerned about continued injuries, we have to be concerned about people eating spoiled food and water that's not safe to drink. And those are big public health challenges that often get overlooked. Certainly mental health ? both acute depression and then in the long term, be very much concerned about the long term mental health aspects of what's going on. There's going to be concerns, particularly in crowded conditions, about passing of respiratory diseases to one another. And of course, as the fall comes in, we've got the flu season."
CHIMES: Is there a risk of infectious diseases like cholera?
BENJAMIN: "Yes. Certainly they've had cholera outbreaks there in the past, and they've had typhoid outbreaks there in the past. And remember, this is a very hot, muggy community with a lot of mosquitoes. So mosquito-born diseases like malaria are a potential. And so, there are things we know that we can do to help mitigate that, and those need to be done."
New Orleans is a very hot place to be at this time of year, and throughout the area there is no electric power for fans or air conditioners, so heat exposure and dehydration are serious problems. Another issue, says Dr. Benjamin, is that many people will be unable to take their usual medications.
BENJAMIN : "You know, you have people who are going to run out of their medications, and we we're going to have to have a capacity to get them their medications. We have people that've got medical conditions they've put off [dealing with], that now need to have those medical conditions taken care of. You know, the person who has a breast cancer and they have surgery scheduled, but now it can't be done. That's still going to have to happen. Or was getting chemotherapy. That's still going to have to happen."
CHIMES: I think there's only one hospital that's now operating in the city of New Orleans itself, but that's going to put obviously a lot of strain on the medical facilities in the surrounding areas as well.
BENJAMIN: "Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That's why everyone's going to have to pitch in and be part of the solution to this problem."
CHIMES: There are apparently a large number of dead bodies in the city. Does that present a public health problem?
BENJAMIN: "Not acutely. Obviously it's unsightly and the humanity of it is just heartbreaking, but I think the greatest threats remain [a lack of] clean water, safe food, and they will have to deal with the tragedy of the people that have died. But we do have people that have lived, and we have to make sure that they're safe."
The Gulf coast hit by the hurricane is home to numerous industrial facilities, including oil refineries and chemical plants. Dr. Benjamin says toxic leakage from those and other facilities could have serious public health effects.