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DISASTER
RECOVERY

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT:

Infectious Disease Risks after Hurricanes, Floods, and Displacement

By Ruth E. Berggren, MD, MACP

T he ultra-rapid media news cycle has long displaced response in December 2016 when hundreds of asylum-seeking
women and children were displaced from the Immigration and Cus-
the 2017 Hurricanes Harvey and Maria from our
radar screens, yet places like Houston, Rockport, Port
toms Enforcement (ICE) detention centers in Dilley and Karnes
Aransas, and Puerto Rico must wrestle with the af- City (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/ICE-re-
termath of storms that wrought havoc on economic and public leases-neary-500-from-Dilley-Karnes-City-10692447.php), and again
health infrastructure, destroyed buildings, and disrupted health care. when thousands of people were evacuated to San Antonio from
The grisly images of destruction quickly fade from memory as new flood zones after Hurricane Harvey (August 2017). There were some
threats appear on the horizon. As custodians of our community’s specific challenges from which we can learn, after these events, as
health, we are compelled to reflect on these experiences, to cull from well as some general themes that highlight what we should prepare
learned lessons and always prepare for improved responses in future for after mass evacuations of traumatized humans, be they from
scenarios. New Orleans, Haiti, Central America, or Texas. In the paragraphs
As an internist/infectious disease specialist with experience from below, I outline some of the infectious disease-related short, medium
providing care during and after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and long-term challenges we observed, and offer links to resources,
and after Haiti’s massive 2010 earthquake, I joined our community as well as personal observations for future disaster responses.

14 San Antonio Medicine • February 2018