Officials closed a shelter in Biloxi, Miss., on Saturday because doctors think more than 20 ill people there may be sick with dysentery from tainted water.
An additional 20 people in Biloxi, not staying in the shelter, were treated for vomiting and diarrhea.
The shelter, at a Biloxi school, has had no water or power since Katrina hit on Monday. About 400 people had been staying there, and doctors said some may have ignored warnings to stay away from water.
Some running water came back on late Friday, but it was not safe to drink or even to use to wash with, said Dr. Jason Dees, a volunteer working at the Biloxi Regional Medical Center.
Most of the patients were treated with antibiotics. About 30 were taken to a hospital in Mobile, Ala., while the rest were bused to a shelter in Thomasville, Ga.
"Who knows what they swallowed before they got here," she said. "Half of them were swimming in stuff that we don't even know what it was."
Link.... http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...pi20050903.html
An additional 20 people in Biloxi, not staying in the shelter, were treated for vomiting and diarrhea.
The shelter, at a Biloxi school, has had no water or power since Katrina hit on Monday. About 400 people had been staying there, and doctors said some may have ignored warnings to stay away from water.
Some running water came back on late Friday, but it was not safe to drink or even to use to wash with, said Dr. Jason Dees, a volunteer working at the Biloxi Regional Medical Center.
Most of the patients were treated with antibiotics. About 30 were taken to a hospital in Mobile, Ala., while the rest were bused to a shelter in Thomasville, Ga.
"Who knows what they swallowed before they got here," she said. "Half of them were swimming in stuff that we don't even know what it was."
Link.... http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/200...pi20050903.html