Phil McKenna of Inside Climate News has a must read piece for all those concerned about the deteriorating conditions on the island of Puerto Rico. The Trump administration’s slow response to the tragedy, which was caused by Hurricanes Maria and Irma, has raised alarms among heath officials that “serious epidemics” are possible soon. McKenna notes that the situation across the island is grim for human health, but particularly grim for those in poor communities.
The sense of desperation is only growing with every passing day," said Chris Skopec, executive vice president for global health and emergency response with Project HOPE, a Millwood, Virginia-based nonprofit now working in Puerto Rico. "In these kinds of conditions, the ability for an epidemic to spread is really ripe."
In Caño Martín Peña, a densely populated community of mostly wooden homes originally built by impoverished squatters in a flood zone in the heart of San Juan, existing public health issues were exacerbated by the storm.
The community is plagued by untreated sewage that flows into the adjacent Martín Peña Channel. Before Hurricanes Irma and Maria, even moderate rainstorms would cause the debris-clogged channel to overflow, sending raw sewage into basements and causing skin rashes and asthma. Outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases dengue and Zika are common in the community of 23,000, where 25 percent of adults are unemployed and the median household income is $13,500, according to 2010 U.S. Census data.
"People are drinking whatever comes from the faucet, and it's turbid," said Lyvia Rodríguez del Valle, executive director of the Caño Martín Peña Land Trust Project Corporation, a public-private partnership working with the community. "People lost their roofs. They cannot close their doors, so we are having issues with mosquito bites and other insects, we are having plagues like rats and everything else."
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"Unless there is massive intervention to implement some type of health infrastructure, we could see significant epidemics in the coming weeks," said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
"I'm concerned about typhoid, paratyphoid and shigella [bacterial diseases that can spread through non-potable water] on the diarrheal side and the vector-borne diseases, especially dengue, because we have dengue in Puerto Rico every year anyway," Hotez said.
Business Insider reports that residents have resorted to eating dog food.
CNN correspondent Leyla Santiago, reporting from Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, said she spoke to the mayor of the coastal town and shared harrowing details from the interaction.
"He was holding back tears," Santiago said on air Tuesday. "He's seeing people day to day and he's saying the desperation is getting out of hand."
"I mean, he told me yesterday he had to deal with a gentleman who was about to commit suicide," she said. "I spoke to a doctor that was right next to him who told me one of his patients was now eating dog food. Eating dog food — patients eating dog food in a clinic."
In addition, suicides have occurred and are expected to rise as the desperation continues unabated.
On the night of Tuesday, October 3, Puerto Rico Police confirmed that nine people had completed suicide after Hurricane Maria made landfall on September 21, 2017. Among the unfortunate losses are six men and three women between the ages of 25 and 69. The reported cases are located in San Juan, Aguadilla, Canóvanas, Villalba, Vega Alta, Caguas and Moca.
The statistics, available on the website of the Puerto Rico Police, reflect a rise in suicides reported in September 2016 and September 2017, with a total of 164 suicides, 23 more than 2016
According to Primera Hora, an investigation into the effects of 2005 Hurricane Katrina revealed that in areas hit by natural disasters, there is a doubling of suicides and suicide attempts generally reported. The rector of Carlos Albizu University, Julio Santana, reported that there was a "post-traumatic growth" after the phenomenon. It is also reported that the population generally vulnerable to suicide are young adults, between 30 and 50 years.