Disease outbreaks begin in Puerto Rico even as Trump attacks its citizens on Twitter



https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/disease-outbreaks-begin-in-puerto-rico-even-as-trump-attacks-its-citizens-on-twitter/

The first outbreaks of contagious disease are beginning on the island of Puerto Rico 10 days after Hurricane Maria strafed the U.S. territory with a direct hit, according to The Daily Beast, even as the federal response lags and President Donald Trump attacks Puerto Rico and its elected officials on Twitter.

The Daily Beast’s Pablo Venes spoke to Puerto Rican mayors and health officials about the ticking infectious disease time bomb waiting to explode into a full-on public health crisis as citizens enter their second week without electricity, air conditioning, water, food or medication.

“Ninety-five percent of the island is still without electricity more than a week after Hurricane Maria struck, including most hospitals. Only about half of the island’s 3.4 million population has drinking water. These two factors, plus unsanitary flood water inundating homes and towns, have created a public-health emergency,” wrote Venes.

Mayor Julia Navarro of Loiza, a city half an hour’s drive from San Juan, said residents are showing signs of Dengue fever, Zika virus and a runaway epidemic of conjunctivitis that has infected more than 300 people.