Comments on: Tsunami Death Toll Tops 100,000 http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/tsunami_death_toll_could_top_100000/ Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:17:47 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Kent http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/tsunami_death_toll_could_top_100000/comment-page-1/#comment-30625 Kent Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:13:07 +0000 /?p=8591#comment-30625 <em>The agency's officials said Tuesday that because there was little danger of epidemics from unburied bodies</em> Don't know why this should surprise anyone. Dead bodies aren't good hosts for most human pathogens. It's the crowding of large numbers of weakened people into refugee camps with poor sanitary conditions that poses the risk for epidemics. Weakened people are ideal hosts for pathogens and their close proximity makes transmission of disease difficult to avoid. The agency's officials said Tuesday that because there was little danger of epidemics from unburied bodies

Don't know why this should surprise anyone. Dead bodies aren't good hosts for most human pathogens.

It's the crowding of large numbers of weakened people into refugee camps with poor sanitary conditions that poses the risk for epidemics. Weakened people are ideal hosts for pathogens and their close proximity makes transmission of disease difficult to avoid.

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