Our locall free newspaper (City South News, Wednesday July 23 2011) had an article on the front page showing a young girl helping clean up the South’s Cricket Ground after the floods earlier this year. This is a scan of part of the front page, with the face mask enlarged and inset to show the fit.
There is no way that the face mask could seal against the wearer’s face. It’s and adult mask and far too large for a start, so any protection against respirable dust from the silt would be minimal.
Queensland University of Technology has a program “Flood study to examine health effects of mould and mud” [February 2011] lead by Professor Lidia Morawska, who has a great indoor air quality laboratory.She notes
“mould and dust from waterlogged materials and silt and organic debris in flood-affected areas could impact on residents’ respiratory health, with the greatest effect typically seen in children and asthmatics”.
The child in the photo would have to be exposed to dust from the silt – and perhaps more so than the adult as she is closer to the ground.
I don’t know what the microbiological risk is, but it appears few cases of respiratory illness have been reported, though I suspect there would be gross under-reporting. There have been at least three cases of leptospirosis from the Queensland Floods.
The sister newspaper City North News reported [January 19 2011] “be alert of the health issues associated with the flood event” but does not seem aware of the issue of toxic dust from the silt. The sister paper City North News reported “… the thick, toxic sludge covering its Tennyson [adjoining suburb] fields. E. coli has been detected in the muck, leaving the grounds unusable….”
There seems to be an amnesia between what is reported one week and and the next.
