Six common diseases to watch out for during floods

  • The torrential rains that caused massive floods in Greater Jakarta on New Year’s Eve may have subsided, but the rainy season is far from over, meaning more floods are likely
  • Those affected by floods are at risk of getting infected with water-borne diseases contracted through direct contact with polluted waters. Floods also serve as a prime breeding site for mosquitoes, which also transmit many vector-borne diseases
  • According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are six diseases or health problems in particular that are worth looking out for during floods: typhoid fever, cholera, hepatitis A, malaria, dengue fever, and hypothermia