Thailand Flooding alarms World Health Organization

Thailand Flooding alarms World Health Organization

The World Health Organization feared Saturday that the worsening flooding in Thailand will put thousands of local Thai residents at higher risk of acquiring water-borne infections and diseases. Although there are no major outbreaks yet to be reported in Thailand, the WHO is preparing for the worst.

Maureen Birmingham, Thailand’s WHO Representative, said many communicable diseases might spread in times of flooding such as diarrhea, conjunctivitis and respiratory illnesses. Local Thai residents affected by the widespread flooding are also highly exposed to leptospirosis, a bacterial infection brought about by rats, and other skin fungal infections. Birmingham also added that these health risks are increasing and more people are endangered.

said the country should prepare as early as now despite no reported outbreaks across the affected regions so far. Birmingham also warned people to take stricter precautionary measures to prevent drowning and other risks such as snake bites and electrocution.

Thailand has been experiencing unusual heavy monsoon rains for the past 3 months that have caused massive flooding across the country killing at least 350 local residents and forcing the government to conduct a massive rescue operation to salvage tens of thousands of affected families. Luckily, the capital Bangkok has escaped the wrath of flooding that has affected the Northern part of Thailand.

Posted by James Fried on Monday October 24 2011, 9:52 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0