By Stephanie Lachapelle for Wounds1In the aftermath of the massive earthquake in Haiti, volunteer medical staff are struggling to care for the injured, and new infections threaten to take the lives of those who survived in the rubble. Rashes, gastrointestinal ailment, tetanus, meningitis and severe bacterial infections are wreaking havoc on Haiti’s already diminished healthcare system.
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, presently lacks clean water and sanitation facilities, making the maintenance of open sores and wounds from injury, surgery, and recent attacks by looters, nearly impossible. Shannon Manzi, a Children’s Hospital Boston pharmacist on the Massachusetts-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team explains, “At home in the United States, you would clean your wound with soap and water or peroxide, or you would go to the hospital if it was severe enough. Here, they don’t have anything to wash their wound with, so they’re getting infected.’’ Many of these bacterial infections are caused by multiple strains not easily treated with routine antibiotics.
Additionally, many were left homeless in the quake, leaving them more susceptible to malaria and dengue from mosquito bites. The numbers of people with tetanus and meningitis has also increased.
Although medical workers are doing all that they can to treat the injured and infected victims, many patients are being send to the USNS Comfort, the Navy ship near Port-au-Prince and the last refuge for the critically ill and injured.
Disease specialists are attempting to survey 52 medical sites, hoping to control outbreaks, but identifying bacterial strains is difficult without a good functioning microbiology laboratory. Most of the country’s medical facilities were ruined in the quake. Makeshift pharmacies have been dispensing antibiotics, but health officials have turned to dealing with the state of water, sanitation and housing to stop future spread of infection.
Patients who suffered crushing injuries to their tissues from falling rubble are in desperate need for kidney dialysis, which is only available at two locations.
As the Haitian government closes the search and rescue mission, the main focus of medical aid workers is to treat the injured and control infection.
