Flood Fears

Now that the waters are beginning to recede after this month's devastating floods in the Midwest, state and federal officials are warning of a widespread secondary risk from dangerous bacteria and disease-bearing mosquitoes.

Officials of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials across the Midwest said they expected this season's mosquito population to be especially big, nurtured by hot summer temperatures and large pools of standing water that make an ideal breeding ground.

"We know we have mosquitoes right now in the state that are testing positive for the West Nile virus," Indiana State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe said.

Indiana health officials have already found two mosquitoes infected with West Nile in Marion County, and they said they expected to see more, because smaller counties with smaller budgets haven't had the manpower to go looking for them yet.

"The places that they're going to have trouble with most likely is when the waters actually recede and the water gets trapped in grassy areas, in grassy fields, when it's not actually flowing," said Justin Manning, supervisor of rodent control for the Vanderburgh County Health Department.

Chuck Cipperley, director of environmental services for the Siouxland District Health Department in Iowa, said the Sioux City area was covered in mosquito-friendly pools of water.

"We have had a lot of water, and there is a lot of breeding ground all around us," Cipperley said.

It's bad news for mother like Tricia Massart of Elm Grove, Wis., whose children had been waiting for summer to start.

"The summer here is so short, and everyone just waits for summer to come, and they want to get outside and enjoy it," Massart said. "I think if the mosquitoes try to ruin it, that would be very unfortunate."

E. coli, tetanus feared
Stagnant water carries numerous other risks, health officials said. For any number of dangerous bacteria and parasites, hot, fetid pools left over by swamped septic systems are the perfect home.

"What you see in floodwaters are the same kind of organisms that normally exist in a community," said Rosie Kapp, a specialist with the Rosie Kapp, a specialist with the Waukesha (Wis.) County Department of Public Health.