Most common flood-associated infectious diseases in children

Abstract

Floods constitute one of the most widely described natural phenomena worldwide, and their frequency is increasing due to the consequences of climate change. Floods pose risks to the affected populations, including an increase in communicable diseases mainly due to population displacement and overcrowding, deficiencies in hygiene and dietary measures and difficulties accessing health care. The most frequently reported infectious diseases in the context of these disasters are gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases and diseases resulting from wound infection. Epidemic outbreaks of infections such as leptospirosis or vector-borne diseases, which are usually less prevalent but whose increased incidence is closely related to this type of disasters, have also been described.

These events evince the need to develop epidemiological surveillance protocols and for scientific societies to establish consensus-based guidelines for the diagnosis and therapeutic management of the most prevalent communicable diseases.

This consensus document was developed by the Sociedad Española de Infectología Pediátrica (SEIP) in collaboration with the Asociación Española de Pediatría (AEP) and the Sociedad Valenciana de Pediatría (SVP) to establish recommendations for the therapeutic management of the main infectious diseases that may affect children impacted by floods, which could also be applicable to other natural disasters.