after the flood - illness, cleaning, sanitizing?

[Guest guest]

HI folks,

I’m interested in what we believe

about cleaning up after floods, the evidence upon which our beliefs are based

and the rationale that leads from evidence to recommended action.

1) when we

clean up after floods (river, hurricane type floods) what health hazards are we

protecting ourselves from?

2) What evidence in the literature finds illnesses associated with

surface contamination in buildings after flood waters have left and things are

dried out?

3) What evidence is in the literature that helps me select a cleaner

and/or sanitizer that I can expect to be effective in removing the potentially

harmful organisms from:

a. Hard, non-porous surfaces (metal, glass, ceramic tile, countertops

(laminate, dense plastics, stone) varnished wood?)

b. Porous building materials (unfinished wood framing, plaster on

lath, concrete (poured and CMU), extruded styrene, wooden flooring, tile grout)

4) Which of these surfaces is it most important to sanitize or

disinfect?

I’m interested in published research

or case studies.

I am grateful for any help with this. I realize it is a big topic and volumes

could be written. The most useful

thing to me would be the three to five articles, papers or chapters you have

found most influenced your thinking.

Terry Brennan