Summer Risks vs. Realities
The news media are so full of warnings about potential summer health hazards that you may wonder, as the season wears on, how anyone ever comes through unscathed.
Summertime Epidemics continued...
"The fatalities are predominately among people who have
severe West Nile virus disease, and who are over the age of 50," says Sue
Montgomery, an epidemiologist with the CDC Division of Vector-Borne
It's not possible to predict how bad an outbreak will be in a
given area and to be able to guess at how great your risk is. "The virus
hasn't been in this country long enough," Montgomery says.
From January 2004 to June 21, 2005, 2,539 West Nile cases and
100 deaths had been reported to the CDC.
Lyme disease is another summertime worry, especially for people
living in New England and the mid-Atlantic states, where the disease is most
densely concentrated. Warm weather sends people with bare legs out to hike and
work in tall grass and underbrush, where ticks carrying the Lyme-disease
In 2002, the CDC recorded 23,763 cases, and the numbers have
been steadily increasing since 1991. Lyme disease symptoms can be miserable,
and even disabling if not treated properly, but fortunately it's rarely
At least once a year, many Americans hear that the National
Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for their area. "Beat the
heat" tips are broadcast, and city officials set up emergency oases for
those without air conditioning at home. But how deadly can hot weather be? To
elderly people in stuffy rooms, kids and pets locked in hot cars, and anyone
overexerting themselves -- very.
Three hundred people died from extreme heat in 2001, but from
year to year the numbers can vary.
A major heat wave in 1980 killed more than 1,250 in the central
and eastern U.S., according the National Weather Service, and may have
indirectly claimed the lives of as many as 10,000. More recently, more than 500
people died in five days during a 1995 Chicago heat wave.
The National Weather Service uses a "heat index," which
takes both air temperature and humidity into account, to determine how hot the
weather really feels. A heat index in the 90- to 105-degree range means a risk
for sunstroke, heat cramps, and heat exhaustion. The 105- to 130-degree range
means that heat stroke, the deadliest kind of heat-related illness, is
possible. Beyond that, heat stroke is considered "highly likely."
Under such conditions, you should take it easy, spend as much
time in air-conditioning as possible, take cool dips or showers, and drink
plenty of fluids. Probably, no one will have to twist your arm.