posted November 18, 2011 08:36 PM
Nope, it is not that they are "dirty" from camping. Soldiers get dirty from 30-60 days in the field or 12 months in Afghanistan / Iraq. The difference is that Soldiers know that good hygiene is important to health. You know who else knows that? Boy Scouts. They know that there are necessary precautions one must take when they are in an area without water to bathe.
Campers- well that would be another group of people that don't let the scum settle on their bodies.
Hmmmm- OWS and communicable diseases:
Zuccotti Lung and Tuberculosis:
With little sleep in cold conditions, cigarettes and drinks being passed from mouth to mouth, and few opportunities to wash hands, Zuccotti Park may now just be the best place to catch respiratory viruses, norovirus (also known as the winter vomiting virus) and tuberculosis, according to one doctor.
The damp clothing and cardboard signs wet with rain are also breeding grounds for mold. Some protesters are urinating in bottles and leaving food trash discarded throughout the campground, providing further opportunities for nastiness.
There is also the increased risk among the encampment of sexually transmitted diseases, said the doctor, Dr. Philip M. Tierno, Jr. of the NYU Langone Medical Center. And the site's pounding circles could lead to hearing damage.
Tierno compared conditions at the park to the pilgrimage to Mecca, in which entire groups of people have come down with respiratory infections in short period of time, and the communal compounds of the 1960s where sanitation problems and STDs cropped up
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Zuccotti-Lung-Park-Sickness-Demonstrators-Protesters-Illness-133669113.html
TB- Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). You can get TB by breathing in air droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person. This is called primary TB.
In the United States, most people will recover from primary TB infection without further evidence of the disease. The infection may stay asleep or inactive (dormant) for years. However, in some people it can reactivate.
"Your risk of contracting TB increases if you:
•Are in frequent contact with people who have TB
•Have poor nutrition
•Live in crowded or unsanitary living conditions"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001141/
Lice, Scabies:
New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg ”finally decided to wipe Zuccotti Park clean after learning about a rancid outbreak of scabies, lice and lung ailments among protesters,” reports the New York Post.
Cleanliness:
“There was a collective sigh of relief — and good riddance — from the residents and business owners surrounding Zuccotti Park yesterday,” reported the Post’s Lachlan Cartwright, Laurel Babcock and Chuck Bennett. ”After two months of impenetrable barricades, aggressive panhandling, public urination and seemingly
interminable drumming — locals were beaming over getting back their lives and livelihoods after cops cleared the park.”
Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2011/11/ny-post-scabies-lice-at-occupy-wall-street-prompt-mayor-to-hose-the-place-down.php#ixzz1e6uiUAXq
Scabies:
Scabies is found worldwide among people of all groups and ages. It is spread by direct contact with infected people, and less often by sharing clothing or bedding. Sometimes whole families are affected.
Outbreaks of scabies are more common in nursing homes, nursing facilities, and child care centers.
The mites that cause scabies burrow into the skin and deposit their eggs, forming a burrow that looks like a pencil mark. Eggs mature in 21 days. The itchy rash is an allergic response to the mite.
Scabies is spread by skin-to-skin contact with another person who has scabies.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001833/
Like so many cities where Occupy camps have taken hold, officials are concerned about the health and safety of those camped out in San Lorenzo Park, and are working with protesters to keep drugs, alcohol and human waste out of the camp.
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/occupy-santa-cruz-occupied-by-scabies-ringworm#ixzz1e6vdkPIt
It is amazing that we are living in 2011 and people still can't get that proper hygiene can stop 99% of the diseases spreading throughout the camps. There are facilities people can use and it is illegal to boil water (due to an open flame) then do the next sensible thing, don't camp!
Moldy clothes, smoking, drinking (sharing smokes and drinks), sharing bedding, not washing and unprotected sexual contact are all contributing to the spread of the disease. Defecating anywhere and everywhere as well as urinating near tents and food sources is just nasty! We are not in the Middle Ages, we are living in a time when we know better.
Those are the facts. Diseases don't care what your socioeconmic, racial or political background is.
Lindaland
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posted November 18, 2011 08:36 PM
posted November 18, 2011 08:37 PM
posted November 19, 2011 03:15 AM
posted November 19, 2011 10:29 AM
