EPA: Contaminated Floodwater Dangerous
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Floodwaters in New Orleans contain levels of sewage-related bacteria that are at least 10 times higher than acceptable safety limits, endangering rescue workers and remaining residents who even walk in it, federal officials said. Results of the first round of testing by the Environmental Protection Agency were no surprise, but reinforced warnings that everyone still in the city take precautions to avoid getting the water on their skin — especially into cuts or other open wounds — much less in their mouths. "Human contact with the floodwater should be avoided as much as possible," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.
Nursing Enrollment Rises While Statewide Numbers Fall
Commonwealth Times
While the nursing shortage might be negative news for people requiring future medical care, it rates as good news for nursing students planning to graduate and practice in the next 10 years. "I'm not stressing over job security at all," said 25-year-old nursing student Atalie Doyle. "People will always be sick. We're continuing to work with advancing technologies, and we have people living 50 years longer than what they would have in earlier years. We will always be needed." According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment of registered nurses is expected to increase by 21 to 35 percent for all occupations through 2012.
Nighttime Is The Right Time For Nursing Students
Freeport Journal Standard
Aspiring nurses have an alternative to traditional academic programs - night nursing at Highland Community College. The college and FHN started the program to accommodate those who might not be able to enroll in the daytime program and to help address a area's nursing shortage. "For me it was very beneficial because (my daughter) was in pre-school," Terri Holland said. She was a member of the night nursing program's first class that started in fall 2003 and graduated in May. Holland probably would not have become a nurse without the opportunity to take classes at night, she added.
Health officials: Floodwater can sicken, kill
Jackson Clarion Ledger
The deaths of four Gulf Coast residents from bacteria acquired from contaminated floodwater have prompted renewed warnings by health officials to stay out of water. State Health Officer Dr. Brian Amy said, "The most important things as we clean up down there is stay out of the bay, stay out of water." Amy said healthy people can die from wound infections, but those with sclerosis, cancer or other illnesses that weaken the immune system are especially vulnerable.
Firefighters 'Soaked' in Hazardous Katrina Floodwater
Homeland Response
Firefighters working continuously for days at a time in southern Louisiana are "getting soaked from head to toe" in the floodwaters of Katrina, according to Eric Lamar, coordinator of disaster field relief for the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF). Lamar, speaking from Baton Rouge, La., said while his organization is telling members to wear proper personal protective equipment, "I can tell you it's not that simple."
Bacteria thriving in flooded Louisiana
Webindia123
Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf of Mexico shoreline reportedly are suffering environmental damage from sewage-infested floodwater. Salt water that flooded New Orleans from breeched levies following Hurricane Katrina is contaminated by human and animal waste and chemicals. It is now being pumped from the city back into Lake Pontchartrain and is expected to cause fish kills and other environmental damage that might last for at least six months, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.
Health Tips During Recovery and Cleanup
2 The Advocate.com
As the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina recede and cleanup efforts begin, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals offers the following tips to prevent injury and the spread of disease. DHH officials said there is no need for any special immunizations in the wake of the hurricane. However, people who cut or puncture themselves while cleaning up after the storm should get a tetanus shot if they have not had one in the past five years. People whose homes were flooded should assume everything touched by floodwater is contaminated and will have to be disinfected. Most clean up can be done with household cleaning products.
CDC Reports No Disease Outbreaks So Far
Biloxi Sun Herald
CHALMETTE, La. -- Although health officials were preparing for outbreaks of deadly diseases in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the federal Centers for Disease Control said Thursday that no epidemics had materialized so far. Doctors are seeing some clusters of diarrhea, along with skin rashes and infected wounds. But the CDC said an epidemic of cholera or typhoid was "very unlikely."
Mosquito-Borne Disease Kills Two in Mass.
New York Newsday
BOSTON -- A rare mosquito-borne disease killed a young girl and an elderly man who lived in neighboring towns, health officials said Tuesday as they urged people to protect themselves against the insects. The two became ill with the dangerous Eastern equine encephalitis virus, known as EEE, within days of a third woman who also lives nearby. She remains hospitalized in serious condition, officials said. Four New Hampshire residents have also turned up ill with the virus in recent weeks; none have died.
