Via The New York Times: Pneumonia Is New Threat to Storm-Battered Philippines. Excerpt:
Two weeks after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the east-central Philippines, a new problem has emerged: pneumonia.
Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and are living under tarpaulins and in makeshift huts across Leyte Island and nearby islands. These simple structures are proving no match for torrential rain and a rapid alternation of chilly breezes and sweltering heat.
Three Philippines Department of Health officials said in separate interviews on Friday night that acute respiratory infections, including pneumonia, were the biggest single public health problem to emerge since the typhoon.
Concerns about pneumonia came as the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, a Philippines government agency, said the death toll had reached 5,209 by Friday evening. The agency uses a conservative figure for deaths that relies on bodies being found and logged by officials.
At a meeting on Friday evening, where representatives of several dozen domestic and foreign medical groups described the latest health concerns, most were acute respiratory infections, said Dr. Jim Bernadas, the acting chief typhoon health incident officer for Leyte Island, the island in the archipelago that suffered most of the casualties. He attributed the respiratory infections to the widespread lack of shelter, saying more tents were needed from international donors.
The department plans to compile on Saturday detailed information on the number of acute respiratory infections that have been diagnosed and officially reported to the authorities, Health Department officials said.
