Why is New Orleans such a breeding ground for infectious disease?
In the 19th Century, New Orleans was well-known as a place for cholera. The region is considered the most tropical environment in the United States, and it has gone through cholera outbreaks; it has had typhoid fever; it has had salmonella and Campylobacter outbreaks. It has had epidemics in the past, but these epidemics have not occurred recently because of a better public health system. What are some of the long-term health concerns in the regions affected by the floods? The most immediate concerns are things that you can catch through contaminated water: typhoid fever, salmonella, cholera, etc. Since the entire city of New Orleans is underwater, there’s clearly raw sewage there, too. Hepatitis A is a food borne disease that you can get either through contaminated food or water, so it is also something these people have to worry about. Hepatitis A isn’t a concern for those who have had the vaccine, but it is not a mandated vaccine in childhood. People are usually only vaccinated when
