Health Effects of Hurricanes

Introduction:

Hurricanes are natural disasters that are destructive and cause a heavy toll on lives. It will deconstruct the property and infrastructure. Hurricanes depending on their size and intensity and location (size of population), can affect the economic condition and health. In the United States, Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes that occurred, resulting in the death of about 1200 people. It creates catastrophic damage to the United States. Some researchers suggest that Hurricane Maria impacted Puerto Rico and caused 2975 deaths. In the affected area, hurricanes are the most indirect health effect. Hurricanes can cause socio-physical and biochemical environmental stressors. It is important to understand hurricanes' direct and indirect impacts to achieve the precise health effect. Hurricanes are shown to cause various diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders.

What Are Hurricanes?

Hurricanes are natural disasters that can cause irreversible damage to the infrastructure and cause death. Hurricanes are large and move in a twisting storm. Hurricanes form over the warm water in oceans near the equator. These are violent storms (rotating wind) on Earth. The speed of hurricanes is about 74 miles per hour. The size of hurricanes decides the economic and health impact on the people. Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest hurricane that caused 170 billion dollars in loss. Hurricane Maria causes a 94 billion USD loss in Puerto Rico. These also caused 146 to 200 deaths. These data are indirect losses, as direct loss is more than this. Understanding the link between a hurricane’s environmental stress and human health is important.

• Hurricanes dramatically altered socio-physical environmental conditions by directly modifying the physical landscape.

• Hurricanes cause flooding, water contamination, and increased air pollution. These are environmental stresses which can persist for days or weeks.

• The short-term health effects are due to environmental stress. There is high mortality and morbidity due to injuries, drowning, heat stress, and infectious disease outbreak due to exposure to contaminated food and water.

• Hurricanes also cause water-borne diseases, water-related illnesses, vector-borne diseases, and mental health effects.

What Are the Factors That Modify the Health Effects of Hurricanes?

1. Change In Environmental Stresses - It has been demonstrated that hurricanes increase exposure to socio-physical and biochemical stressors because of the floods and physical harm they do to manufacturing plants and infrastructure. New chemicals are discharged into the environment, including petroleum, plastics, synthetics, resin, and chemicals utilized in manufacturing. This has been found to raise the risk of numerous diseases, including infectious diseases.
2. Disruption In Healthcare Delivery - Healthcare delivery is disrupted when hurricanes destroy infrastructure, particularly healthcare infrastructure. The strength of the hurricane determines the extent of the destruction. Access to medical facilities is further hampered by flooding and broken transportation systems. In addition, hospitals and pharmacies are forced to close due to flooding and power outages, which restricts access to medical care.
3. Inadequate Access To Healthcare - Following a cyclone, the burden of sickness increases, making prompt access to healthcare vitally crucial. From storm to storm, different factors warrant medical attention. The most common grievances among patients polled during Hurricane Katrina were illnesses (71 %), requests for medication and refills (21 %), and injuries (8.5 %). Among those who reported illness, 25 % had ear, nose, and throat issues, 17 % had dermatological issues, and 11 % had cardiovascular issues.

What Are The Health Effects Of Hurricanes?

Hurricanes are destructive natural hazards that can alter the environment's social-physical and biochemical characteristics (chemical processes and substances occurring within living organisms). Hurricanes can expose the affected communities to new environmental stressors. This stress can persist for weeks to months or years after the disasters. Hurricanes can impact some chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and mental disorders. Hurricanes directly result in economic losses and loss of lives, while the influences of the indirect hurricane are health issues such as environmental stresses.

Some of the changes caused by hurricanes (which are direct or indirect) are as follows:

• Changes in the socio-physical and biochemical environment.

• Water contamination, air pollution, bioaerosols (fungi, pollen bacteria, and viruses in air).

• Damaging the infrastructure, electricity, housing, healthcare.

• Causes health effects such as morbidity and mortality.

• Access the characters, demographic.

The altered environmental conditions continue for days or weeks, for example, flooding, contaminated water, and polluted air. Morbidity and mortality, including water-borne diseases and water-related illnesses, are the conditions due to the influences of hurricanes. The short-term health effects can be seen due to unintentional injuries, drowning, heat stress, and infectious disease. These all occurred because of contaminated food and water. At the same time, the long-term health effects are hidden out for a long time. Hurricanes can be destructive, including exposure to toxins, population susceptibility, and health system infrastructure.

The following are the health impacts of hurricanes:

• Hurricanes can cause the release of new chemicals into the environment, which are shown to increase the risk of various diseases, including infectious diseases.

• The flood water during hurricanes contains hydrogen sulfide, aldrin, arsenic, lead, and semi-volatile organic compounds.

• Hydrogen sulfide can become airborne, which is a potential inhalation hazard. After ten years of Hurricane Katrina, the concentration of lead decreased in children's blood.

• After the hurricane's landfall, there is an increase in bioaerosols (bacteria, viruses, fungi present in the air), including mold and endotoxins.

• The hurricane affects pre-existing health conditions. People with pre-existing health issues, such as asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, are at greater risk of exacerbating underlying diseases.

• After Hurricane Maria, people were reported as having heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and septicemia.

• The morbidity rate increased by 12.6 % after Hurricane Katrina.

• PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) symptoms and post-hurricane asthma attacks increased after Hurricane Katrina.

What Are Major Health Effects Of Hurricanes?

The following are the major health impacts of hurricanes:

1. Unintentional Injuries - Hurricanes' immediate health consequences are caused by direct wind, ruined infrastructure, and flooding. The majority of hurricanes' direct health consequences are unintentional accidents. Unintentional injuries frequently occur due to drowning, poisoning, electrocution, and injuries sustained during rehabilitation or restoration efforts, among other causes.
2. Respiratory Illness - Some studies suggest respiratory illness occurs after a hurricane. The Hurricane Katrina recovery team in New Orleans has revealed new respiratory problems. Fever, cough, sinusitis signs, pneumonia, and newly developed asthma were some of these symptoms. Following Hurricane Gilbert, children reported experiencing similar symptoms. In the first two months after the hurricane, children reported an increase in respiratory symptoms such as difficulty breathing, coughing, and nasal discharge.
3. Chronic Disease - The Hurricane Katrina recovery team in New Orleans has revealed new respiratory problems. The chronic disease's symptoms are fever, cough, sinusitis signs, pneumonia, and newly developed asthma.
4. Reproductive Health - Numerous research has looked into how hurricanes affect pregnancies. There were more pregnancy difficulties in New York during the month of Hurricane Sandy, which led to more visits to the emergency room. This shows that difficulties related to pregnancy are more likely to happen after a hurricane.
5. Mental Health - Literature on the impact of hurricane exposure on mental health is widely available. Following Hurricane Sandy, there was a rise in the number of visits for mental illness, with the peak happening eight months later. Following Hurricane Sandy, there was a spike in psychiatric emergency department visits that lasted for four to six months.

Conclusion:

Hurricane is a natural disaster that causes great mortality and morbidity. Hurricanes created unpredictable threats to public health, mainly in coastal areas. Healthcare has the burden of health impacts on public health. Healthcare warrants preparation and preventive strategies for the high and low impact of hurricanes. This article highlights the major health impacts caused due to hurricanes.