Infectious diseases and natural disasters: the effects of Hurricane Mitch over Villanueva municipal area, Nicaragua.
BACKGROUND
A three month relief operation for the 25,303 people living in the municipal area of Villanueva, Nicaragua, hit by Hurricane Mitch, was carried out jointly by the staff of an international non-government organization and an Italian Regional Hospital's staff.


METHODS
Health Mobile Teams joined the local health facilities (Health Centers and Health Posts) in responding to the people's urgent health problems. From their files the thirty-day post-disaster incidence of acute diarrheas (AD), respiratory tract infectious diseases (ARD), and malaria were estimated and compared with off-crisis data. New cases of leptospirosis were searched, but no control group was available.


RESULTS
The incidence of AD and ARD increased significantly in comparison with pre-disaster data (6,798 vs. 2,849 per 100,000 inhabitants (p < 0.01) and 1,205 vs. 295 per 100,000 inhabitants (p < 0.01)). The increase in incidence of malaria was not explicit. Only three cases of leptospirosis were ascertained. The relief operators used the gathered data to make decisions to allocate the poorly available resources.


CONCLUSIONS
The feasibility of the infectious disease surveillance and the reliability of the results under such conditions may change according to the setting. In this case study the infectious disease surveillance was feasible, and the gathered data were reliable and of some help to the relief operators in order to allocate the resources efficiently.
Campanella
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Umberto I Regional Hospital, Ancona, Italy. campanando@yahoo.com
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004190:Disasters; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D009527:Nicaragua / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011634:Public Health; D014505:Urban Population