![]() Floodwaters are also found to have increased concentrations of aldrin, arsenic, lead (PB), and semi-volatile organic compounds beyond the thresholds for human health screening levels after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It can become airborne, which is a potential inhalation hazard. Hydrogen sulfide is commonly observed in the flooded areas with animal facilities. Likewise, the flooding of areas with physical damage, wastewater facilities and agricultural land can result in excess run off various chemical and pathogens, which are shown to increase the risk of various diseases including infectious disease. New chemicals are released in the environment, such as releases of chemicals used in manufacturing, including petroleum, plastics, synthetics and resin. Hurricanes are shown to increase exposure to socio-physical and biochemical stressors due to physical damage to infrastructure and manufacturing facilities and flooding. The paper also identifies research gaps in the literature and discusses methodological challenges that constrain our ability to tease out the extent of the disease and disability burden associated with hurricanes and potential areas of future research. Further, the paper conceptualizes direct and indirect health impacts of hurricanes and their persistence over time. This review attempts to explain specific rates and durations of health impacts following a hurricane, as observed in the literature. ![]() The cited direct health impacts include: weather-related morbidity and mortality, waterborne diseases and water-related illnesses, vector-borne diseases, and mental health effects. Previous literature focuses on three major themes in regard to the health impact of water related disasters, which include exposure to toxins, population susceptibility and health systems infrastructure. However, the long-term health impacts of hurricanes can go unnoticed. The short-term health effects of these changes in the environmental conditions are often visible within days and weeks, e.g., morbidity and mortality due to unintentional injuries, drowning, heat stress and infectious disease outbreak due to exposure to contaminated food and water. Hurricanes directly modify the physical landscape and dramatically alter socio-physical environmental conditions, and these conditions deteriorate for days/weeks (e.g., flooding, water contamination, increase in air pollution) after the hurricane (landfall) before they begin to improve, thus exposing the impacted communities and displaced individuals (for example, in shelters) to new environmental stressors which can persist for weeks to months following the hurricane. To tease out the precise health impacts of hurricanes, it is important to understand direct and indirect linkages between hurricanes, environmental stressors and human health, as demonstrated in Figure 1.Ī conceptual model of the direct and indirect health effects of hurricanes. Most indirect health impacts of hurricanes can be attributed to new or modified environment stressors caused by hurricanes because hurricanes change socio-physical and biochemical environmental stressors in the affected areas. While the direct economic losses and loss of lives have been subject to accounting, the indirect health effects of hurricanes and their persistence over time have been challenging. For example, research suggests that the estimated death toll in Puerto Rico associated with Hurricane Maria was 2975, against 64 reported officially. However, these estimates can be subject to downward bias and do not fully account for indirect economic costs and disease and disability burden associated with hurricanes. Hurricane Maria, which impacted Puerto Rico in 2017, accounted for $94.5 billion USD in economic losses and 146 deaths. For example, Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes on record to strike the United States, which resulted in about 1200 deaths and catastrophic damage-estimated at $170 billion USD. The economic and health impacts of a hurricane largely depend on its size and intensity and its location in terms of population density and proximity to the coastline. Hurricanes are devastating natural disasters which take a heavy toll on lives and dismantle property and infrastructure. ![]() Hurricanes and Health: A Conceptual Framework
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |