Like I Said
The Miami Herald reports on the dilapidated condition of the Miami sewer system.
Having raw sewage flow into the local waterways is a beginning for a cholera outbreak. There are a lot of people in the area who visit Haiti, where cholera is a major problem, and they will bring it back with them. Given the diminished state of the public health system caused by austerity budgets, an outbreak would be devastating. A crumbling infrastructure and reduced public health resources is a recipe for an epidemic.
2 comments
Of all the results of austerity, cutbacks in public health have to be the absolutely most foolish. I’ve never met a disease that distinguished between people based on wealth or nationality, all other conditions being equal.
This is really scary if you have ever lived or traveled in undeveloped countries. Americans really don’t even think about how easy it is for disease to spread when people gather in large groups.
One of the many reasons my Mother stopped flying was because she came down with something every time she got on an airplane. Crowding people together in packed aircraft may improve airline profits, but it isn’t a healthy situation.