Thoracic radiology of infections emerging after natural disasters.
When natural disasters demolish shelter, destroy sources of clean drinking water, and disrupt the availability of medical care, vast numbers of people are placed at increased risk of disease. The infectious diseases that propagate under these conditions are usually common ones. Occasionally, a natural disaster alters the local environment in ways that markedly increase the prevalence of a disease that is endemic to a geographic region, occurring only as isolated cases under normal conditions. Many of these infections may affect the thorax. In this article, we discuss the radiologic findings of 4 infectious diseases, coccidioidomycosis, leptospirosis, melioidosis, and Chagas disease, which may flourish after natural disasters strike areas where they are endemic.
Ketai
Loren
L
Department of Radiology, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA. lketai@unm.edu
Currie
Bart J
BJ
Alva Lopez
Luis Felipe
LF
D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003047:Coccidioidomycosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004190:Disasters; D006801:Humans; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008554:Melioidosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed