Experts: Flood zone to spawn animal disease

NEW ORLEANS — Fourteen Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emergency teams and 200 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials descended on the toxic and disease breeding ground that's in flooded New Orleans.

Volunteers must separate stranded animals from the toxic stew they were wading in for more than a week.

Stagnant, contaminated water, dehydration and stress are conditions posing major animal health concerns, especially considering the thousands of animals believed abandoned in flooded dwellings.

Leptospirosis, encephalitis, West Nile virus, Giardia and cryptosporidium rank at the top of the watch list, experts say.

Lonnie King, DVM, director of the CDC Office of Strategy and Innovation, calls the combination of contamination of floods and crowded rescue centers the recipe for "an environmental disaster."

"Our immediate problems are the displacement of a number of people in crowded locations with poor sanitation and a lot of stress," he says. "There are water-borne illnesses and viruses. From a veterinary prospective, there's a need to find ways to dispose of carcasses and give animal care."

Environmental disaster

Preliminary results from EPA tests on New Orleans flood waters now stagnant show bacteria counts for E.coli "greatly exceeded" the agency's recommended levels for contact, CDC and EPA announced in a joint statement. Other reports emerged citing four deaths related to vibrio infections.

The top threats

For rescue workers searching for human and animal life, contact with the pools is hazardous, officials say.

"Emergency response personnel and the public should avoid direct contact with any flood water as much as possible," the agencies say. "Please take as many precautions as you can."

Disease issues

Diseased organisms in and around the water are dangerous, says Kansas State Epidemiologist Dr. Gail Hansen.

Birds likely will amplify the spread of vector-borne diseases, and mosquitoes carrying St. Louis and Eastern forms of encephalitis are a possibility. An outbreak of West Nile virus is not improbable, she says.

"Anyone who's contemplating going down there should make sure they're wearing protective clothing and plenty of bug spray," she says.

Leptospirosis is "always a problem caused by floods," adds Dr. Leon Russell, a Texas A&M University expert in veterinary microbiology and public health.

"Think of all the problems that can occur, and imagine them in one situation," he says. "Any fecal contamination can bring protozoan parasites. Giardia and cryptosporidium are often carried by livestock and could become a problem. It's hard to make sure animals aren't going to drink the water there."

King sees zoonotic leptospirosis as one of the most likely outbreaks to arise from the flood: "People don't think about it, but rats and rodents that carry leptospirosis are some of the biggest problems. Like a lot of major cities, I'm sure New Orleans is loaded with them."

To stop disease spread, King recommends burying carcasses whenever possible. That's not an option near potable water, Hansen says.

In most cases, sound preventative measures are a veterinarians' best disease defense, she adds.

"With the proper precautions, there's no reason to believe there will be any more disease going from animal to animal than in any other clinic or shelter," Hansen says. "It has a lot to do with common sense."