Environmental health and public health emergency preparedness and response

Question 1

What is emergency preparedness

Answer 1

To achieve the vision of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA):
“FEMA will work to prepare the Nation for disasters by encouraging individuals, government entities, and public and private groups at all levels to become informed of the risks they face, to make decisions that help keep people, property, and institutions out of harm’s way, and to possess the capability and knowledge needed to act when disasters occur.”

Question 2

The role of environmental health in emergency preparedness

Answer 2

To ensure that the vulnerable areas of our environment are protected from accidental or intentional contamination

Question 3

National center for environmental health

Answer 3

Biological and infectious waste, building environment, food protection, general preparedness, hazardous materials, radiation, shelter, vector control, water security

Question 4

Hurricane Harvey - 2017

Answer 4

• Hazardous Materials- explosions at Arkema chemical plan (air contamination), ExxonMobil releases, other plants leaking chemicals into the floodwaters, 20+ Superfund sites
• Building Environment- MOLD!
• Vector Control- mosquitoes, including those that carry Zika
• Biologic and Infectious Waste- at least a dozen sewage overflows (as of 9/28/17, still 7 inoperable wastewater facilities affecting 1,794 customers)
• Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that lives in the Gulf Coast waters and kills one in seven people it infects; it’s one of several pathogens that can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, which is commonly referred to as “flesh-eating disease.”
• Water Security- 200,000 people subject to boil water orders (as of 9/28/17, still 15 counties, 38 active boil water notices for 12,285 customers)

Question 5

Aftermath and effects of 9/11

Answer 5

• EPA was not adequately testing the air, but gave reassuring public messages
• Effects on responders, recovery workers, residents, and office workers
• Respiratory symptoms, sinus problems, asthma, loss of lung function, sarcoidosis, heartburn, acid reflux, PTSD
• Air quality is impacted when:
• Sediment deposited by floodwaters on city streets and sidewalks dries and is kicked up by vehicles and foot traffic
• Damaged buildings are demolished, and debris is stacked on sidewalks, trucked away, and sometimes burned

Question 6

Vector control

Answer 6

• Zika Virus
• West Nile Virus
• Category B Agents
• —–VEE
• —–EEE
• Post-disaster
• —-Dog bites
• —-Snake bites
• —-Rodents
• —-Insects

Question 7

zika virus

Answer 7

Symptoms
—–Fever, rash, joint pain, headache, muscle aches, conjunctivitis (pink eye)
—–Symptoms are mild
—–80% of people with zika will have no symptoms
At risk populations
—–Pregnant women, women thinking about pregnancy
———-Zika virus can spread from mother to unborn baby
———-Infection during pregnancy linked to birth defects
How zika virus spreads
—–Mosquito bites
—–Sexual transmission

Question 8

How does zika spread

Answer 8

a mosquito bites a person infected with zika –> a mosquito becomes infected –> a mosquito will often live in a single house during its lifetime –> the infected mosquito bites a family member or neighbor and infects them –> more mosquitoes get infected and spread the virus –> more members in the community become infected –>

other less common ways people get zika:

• during pregnancy –> pregnant women can pass zika to her fetus causing a severe birth defect
• through sex
• through blood transfusion