Nothing that has been contaminated by flood water should be used, said the Chief Sanitary Inspector, Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski, in “Fakty po Faktach”. As he emphasized, this applies to furniture, books, bedding, as well as tightly sealed food or medicines. At the same time, he emphasized that there is no threat of an epidemic in the areas affected by the flood at the moment, although infections and diseases that we know – salmonellosis or dysentery – may appear.
In the flooded areas, the cleaning and elimination of the effects of the flood is underway. Questions about the epidemiological threat are also emerging. Contaminated, dirty water, which has flooded many towns, poses a serious health threat to the residents of the flooded areas.
Chief Sanitary Inspector Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski spoke about this in Saturday's edition of “Fakty po Faktach”. – First of all, we should think about real things. The epidemic is of course somewhere in our distant association with every natural disaster, but there is no threat at the moment – he emphasized. – We are not Africa, we are not Haitiwe are not flooded Cubawe do not have a situation where before the pandemic we had numerous problems with diseases and typhoid or hepatitis flows in our sewage. Remember that we function in a completely different area. If I say that in the entire Opole region since the beginning of the year there have been nine cases of viral hepatitis A or zero cases of typhoid, this shows what the background is – he explained.
Grzesiowski: there is currently no threat of an epidemic in the areas affected by floods TVN24
At the same time, he noted that “the word epidemic can be understood in different ways”. – All we need is for the number of salmonella poisonings to increase and we will also warn that this is an epidemic – he said. – We are talking about diseases that we know, i.e. food poisoning, salmonellosis, coliform poisoning, let's say dysentery could appear. We know that such bacteria have occurred before – he added.
“None of us will want to drink from a thermos that ended up in a cesspool. At this point, this is how this water should be treated”
In connection with this, the head of GIS passed on a few warnings. – We don't drink tap water if it's not safe. Even today in my apartment in Warsaw the water was cloudy, slightly yellow, we don't drink tap water like that, we have to boil it. We have to talk about it very widely. Tap water sometimes needs to be boiled to be consumed. Secondly, if we have any doubts, we drink bottled water, let's not risk our health unnecessarily – he said.
Grzesiowski stated that even food or medicines that are tightly wrapped are only fit for the trash. – I will repeat this comparison, because I have said it before. If a thermos with drinks falls into the cesspool, will anyone reach for it? None of us will want to drink from a thermos that has ended up in the cesspool – he said.
– At this point, this water should be treated like sewage. Therefore, nothing that has been contaminated by flood water should be used. Not bedding, not furniture, not books – he added.
– I have questions about what to do with documents, for example. We have special procedures for disinfecting paper, because it absorbs very strongly what is in water. We cannot think that a book will be dried and it will be safe. In such paper, which is after all a biological material, a fungus or bacteria can nest, which will be dangerous to someone – emphasized the TVN24 guest.