SOS for public health

Public health in Attica is in danger. Experts say that each of the thousands of stacks of garbage, formed due to the strike of municipal cleaning services, is a hotbed of multiple infections to humans, able to cause diseases from dermatoses to bowel infections.  

Moreover, they draw attention to the contact with stray and domestic animals such as dogs and cats, but also with rodents such as rats and mice, as they become "vehicles" of transferring pathogens in the urban environment. 

"The accumulation of waste in conjunction with the rainy weather conditions in recent days make for a threatening cocktail for public health," says Professor of Public Health at the National School of Public Health and chairman of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Diseases (KEELPNO), Jenny Kremastinos, to protothema.gr. "The main thing is that garbage contains many infectious microorganisms that can usually cause skin problems (hives, itching, redness) but also bowel infections, salmonella and other infectious diseases." 

"We now estimate that there are tens of thousands of tons of garbage scattered throughout Attica. The major problem is household waste, ie mainly the remnants of organic matter which contain the best conditions for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms," says Stephanos Sabatakakis, responsible for environmental health at KEELPNO, at protothema.gr. 

According to him, the problem at this stage is aggravated also due of the huge volume of garbage because of long exposure to the environment combined with it spreading around and out of the bins. And if one takes into account the possibility that other types of waste are thrown around the bins, such as refrigerators which let off lead into the environment, a substance that is very dangerous to humans, one realizes the magnitude of the threat on public health posed by garbage. 

During the strike experts advise people to keep their garbage bags tightly closed on their balconies, avoid contact or exposure to the volumes of waste and they draw attention to pet owners not to let their animals approach any trash.