The World Health Organisation voiced concerns Tuesday about potential disease outbreaks in Venezuela, with local health services overwhelmed following deadly earthquakes.
“The health services are under extreme pressure now, with facilities operating beyond their capacity,” spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a press conference in Geneva, noting the surge in trauma cases.
By the latest official count, some 1,700 are dead, and 5,000 are injured, with no governmental word on the number of missing. Other estimates place these in the tens of thousands.
The WHO also said there were problems with adequately registering casualties and tracking missing persons following the 7.5- and 7.2-magnitude earthquakes on Wednesday.
“There’s an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases” such as measles and diphtheria, said Lindmeier, due to low pre-earthquake vaccination coverage, as well as yellow fever, and other vector- and water-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika.
