According to the Ministry of Health, flooding after heavy rains creates favorable conditions for bacteria and viruses to develop and cause epidemics in humans. Common epidemics during the rainy season include acute diarrhea, respiratory diseases, eye diseases, skin diseases, and dengue fever.
To prevent diseases caused by flooding after storms, the Ministry of Health recommends that people use mosquito nets when sleeping, even during the day, to avoid diseases caused by mosquito bites, including dengue fever.
Gastrointestinal diseases (diarrhea caused by E.coli bacteria, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis A) are easily contracted due to the use of unsanitary water sources and contaminated food. Therefore, people need to eat cooked food and drink boiled water, choose safe and hygienic food; disinfect drinking water and living water according to the instructions of medical staff to prevent gastrointestinal diseases.
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Skin diseases that are easily contracted due to floods are athlete's foot, hand fungus; folliculitis; ringworm; tinea versicolor; scabies and boils. To prevent diseases, do not bathe or wash clothes in dirty water. If you do not have disinfected well water, you must use alum or filter the water with sand. Do not wear wet clothes. Do not swim, bathe or play in flooded water because the water is very dirty, in addition to causing skin diseases, it also causes digestive diseases due to swallowing dirty water.
Avoid wading in stagnant dirty water. If you must wade in dirty water, immediately rinse with clean water and dry, especially between fingers and toes. Be careful to prevent respiratory diseases by keeping warm in cold weather, ensuring adequate nutrition, especially for children and the elderly; avoid contact with people showing signs of flu or respiratory infections.
The deadly disease
Notably, in recent years, some leading specialized units have recorded that Whitmore disease cases often increase after storms and floods. This is a disease with a high mortality rate. The agent causing this deadly disease is the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei.
Whitmore patient has bacteria "eating" nose
The Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) warns that Whitmore disease (also known as Melioidosis) is an infectious disease in humans and animals. The bacteria that cause this disease exist naturally in soil, can contaminate water sources and is transmitted mainly through the skin when open wounds come into direct contact with contaminated soil, mud, or water.
According to the Center for Tropical Diseases (Bach Mai Hospital), the rainy season is a favorable condition for the development of Whitmore bacteria. Cases tend to increase at this time, concentrated from September to November every year, so people need to raise awareness of disease prevention.
The disease has very diverse clinical manifestations, is difficult to diagnose and patients may be "eaten nose" leading to death due to complications of severe pneumonia, sepsis and septic shock. People with underlying diseases (diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, chronic lung disease, immunodeficiency...) are at high risk of getting the disease and severe progression.
There is currently no vaccine to prevent Whitmore disease. The main preventive measures are to ensure personal hygiene, environmental hygiene, use protective gear when working in contact with contaminated soil, mud, water or in unsanitary environments, clean and disinfect contaminated skin cuts, scratches or burns, and practice thoroughly cooking food and drinking boiled water.
Whitmore is a dangerous disease with a high mortality rate, but it can be cured if diagnosed and treated promptly. Therefore, people and medical units need to pay attention to the symptoms for early diagnosis.
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