Flint Hit With Bacterial Illness As Residents Avoid City Water
Photo of Flint, Michigan protest courtesy of ABC.
As residents of Flint, Michigan continue to deal with polluted water, they're now having to endure another problem: shigellosis.
In avoiding the use of the city's water, residents have contacted shigellosis. The disease is transmitted when people accidentally ingest fecal matter, which often occurs when people don't wash their hands when preparing food. The symptoms include severe diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, cramps and stools containing blood and mucus.
According to health department officials the gastrointestinal disease has been occurring at a higher rate in that county than in any other county, with 85 cases just last week, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The second highest county, Saginaw County, had just 49.
"Shigella cases are on the rise across Michigan," the county health department statement said, noting that there were 454 cases so far this year, with 515 in 2015 and 309 in 2014.
Residents of Flint are still understandably skeptical of the water coming from the taps. Originally, government officials had switched the water source to the Flint River, which is what led to the extensive lead contamination that not only resulted in problems for the city, but problems nationwide.
Several months back the NAACP filed a lawsuit against Governor Rick Snyder, with the civil suit alleging that the state of Michigan, city and state officials failed to detect problems and properly treat the water that led to this crisis.
"The people of Flint have been harmed through the failure of state officials to provide professional and accountable basic services mandated by federal law and expected by any person living in a major city," Cornell William Brooks, the national president and CEO of the NAACP, said.
"Our organization stands with the citizens of Flint to demand a clear timeline, deadline and price tag for fixing this crisis as well as effective remedies for the harms that have already occurred and complete compensation for each and every victim of this unimaginable tragedy."
