Health warnings stepped up

Main concerns are uncollected garbage and leptospirosis

Health hazards are becoming a major concern as contamination of floodwater caused mainly by uncollected garbage is widespread - while warnings against waterborne zoonoses [diseases transferred from animals to humans] and food poisoning have been issued.

The Public Health Ministry's Department of Medical Sciences yesterday warned of possible leptospirosis in flooded areas and against consuming ice and iced drinks from unknown production sources. In a recent survey, 21 food samples, collected in four flooded provinces including Bangkok, yielded food poisoning manifestations, while 17 out of 57 samples of drinking water possessed germs which caused diarrhoea.

The minister reported one leptospirosis case in Khon Kaen and 20 suspected cases. The bacterial disease, which is found usually in flooded areas up to three weeks after a flood recedes, is potentially fatal if not properly treated.

In Bangkok, residents are encouraged to sort and separate rubbish, with decaying foodstuff and materials tightly sealed, as only 30 per cent of daily garbage can now be collected while more than 100 garbage trucks are undergoing modification to enable them to travel through high water.

As Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra admitted, an understaffing problem has resulted in increasing garbage accumulation. District offices are hiring contractors to collect up to 70 per cent of garbage during flooding, while boats are being used to collect rubbish in badly flooded areas.

The Senate yesterday discussed contamination and hygiene issues and called on the government to immediately begin water treatment and other public health concerns including possible post-flooding outbreaks.

The senators, mostly those who sought to open yesterday's session, said the city administration and the government Flood Relief Operations Centre had overlooked health issues while concentrating too much on flood prevention and drainage. Senator Surachai Liangbunlertchai proposed that FROC set up a special panel to oversee measures relevant to disease prevention and treatment of spoiled water.

Senator Nillawan Phetchara-booranin, of the Senate commission on science and technology, said she admired volunteers' dedication in making disinfectant EM [effective micro-organism] balls but expressed scepticism over their effectiveness. A number of university lecturers have questioned use of the medicinal balls, even though charity groups who made and used them claim their effectiveness as a water disinfectant.

Dr Anant Ariyachaiphanich, head of the Senate commission on public health, called on diabetics to avoid wading in floodwater or against wounding themselves, and raised awareness of leptospirosis and mosquito-borne dengue fever.

A retired Army commander, Phichet Wisaijorn, who has had experience disinfecting waste water with EM balls, said he had been assigned by General Prayuth Chan-ocha to promote the use of the balls and to boost their production among Army units.

He said the EM balls would be most effective when used together with a liquid disinfectant, with the balls working underwater while the liquid is sprayed on the floodwater and works on the surface.

He said the space ratio of EM balls used under his supervision is one ball per square metre, compared to 1 to 4 claimed by charity groups.

Examples of success with EM balls' use are in tackling contamination of Pattani Bay a few years ago, and in spoiled water in vast areas of rice paddies in Nakhon Ratchasima during a major flood last year. Phichet said Prayuth had already ordered Army units to make EM balls, even before this year's flood, and now wanted a large number produced by Army units for immediate use.