A cholera outbreak after Hurricane Maria blew away Puerto Rico's infrastructure--an estimated 90% are without power and 44% without clean water--is a distinct possibility according to a study published in 2008. Nontoxic strains of Vibrio cholerae bacteria [photo] are endemic in some Puerto Rican waterways. The island suffered a major outbreak of cholera in 1855-56. The paper predicted that cholera could become a disease epidemic given the "perfect storm". The Dean of Tropical Medicine at Baylor University said this week hurricanes Irma and Marie were those perfect storms. Marie came ashore as category 4 and flattened the island with 155 mph winds and massive storm surge.A breakdown of sanitation services and other infrastructure increases the likelihood that the viral pathogen could be transmitted to non-toxic cholera strains. The disease, which causes uncontrolled diarrhea, can be treated with re-hydration and antibiotics, but that prolonged course is problematic in disaster zones. Significantly, a cholera vaccine is not part of the United States strategic stockpile of vaccines since cholera is considered a "third world" disease. Hot weather and stagnant storm waters contribute to other diseases like Zika and dengue fever. A 77 year-old woman in Miami died of flesh-eating bacteria after she fell into contaminated flood waters left by Harvey.
The distracted and befuddled Trump, who is obsessed with hard hits, flattery, and NFL players who refuse to stand for the national anthem in protest of endemic racism, took eight days to dispatch a US Navy hospital ship to aid 3.4 million American citizens who are without water, electricity, food and shelter. The same ship was dispatched in four days when Haiti was devastated by the 2010 earthquake. There was no cholera on Haiti either, until a Nepalese aid worker brought it to the island. The sad truth is Puerto Rico is a territory, not a state, that mean-spirited politicians like Trump can afford to ignore*, and even blame them, for a natural disaster that has disrupted their lives.
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| a third world island: Puerto Rico after Maria |
*Trump initially denied full federal assistance to the island and refused to suspend the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, or Jones Act, that has for nearly a century strangled commerce to and from Puerto Rico. That act is a vintage piece of colonial administration wherein the territorial possession is expected to return a profit to the colonial master, not cost the home country money. President Roosevelt I, an imperialist to the core, presided over the heyday of America's overseas empire. He observed, "Puerto Rico is not large enough to stand alone. We must govern it wisely and well, primarily in the interest of its own people".