Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan - Western States Seismic Policy Council

SECTIONFIVERisk Assessmentagainst incursions of diseases or pathogens during trade in animals and animal products. Theconcern is with both animal-to-animal diseases as well as diseases transmitted from animals orarthropod vectors to humans.Many other hazards, such as floods, earthquakes, or droughts, can create conditions thatsignificantly increase the frequency and severity of diseases. These other hazards can affect basicservices (e.g., water supply and water quality, wastewater disposal, and electricity), the supplyand quality of food, and the capacity of both the public health and the agricultural health system,which can lead to concentrations of diseases and, potentially, large losses of life and economicvalue.Since the anthrax attacks that occurred after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the possibilitythat diseases might be used against humans, animals, or plants has become a growing concern,especially for diseases capable of disrupting the human or animal food chain.LocationAll of Guam and the people residing in Guam are susceptible to diseases. Table 5-3 presents adetailed breakdown of several of the recent (2009) larger disease outbreaks by village.Specifically, the table shows the village of the civilian residences that were infected,distinguishes infected persons as civilian or military, identifies imported cases, and shows therecorded case rate per 100,000 persons for each disease.As expected, the more highly populated villages, such as Dededo, Yigo, and Tamuning, havesome of the highest number of cases when the village of residence is known. One thing to note isthat the relatively highly populated village of Mangilao has relatively lower numbers of casesthan villages with smaller populations, such as Santa Rita and Barrigada. The military hasrelatively large numbers of cases for some of the more highly communicable diseases that cannotbe vaccinated against, such as chlamydia and strep throat.Table 5-3Annual Summary of Notifiable Disease Reports by Residence of Patient onGuam, 2009ChlamydiaConjunctivitisGonorrheaHepatitis A, B,and CInfluenza and FlusyndromeDiseaseLeptospirosisDrug-resistantStaphylococcus(MRSA)SalmonellosisStreptococcal sorethroatVillageAgana Heights 10 4 0 0 8 0 1 0 2 0 0Agat 17 13 3 5 5 0 12 0 19 0 11Asan/Maina 3 3 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0Barrigada 40 36 1 6 3 0 40 0 29 0 10Chalan Pago-Ordot 7 3 2 2 7 0 5 1 1 0 2Dededo 115 49 10 8 42 0 28 2 21 6 30Hagatna 11 35 2 13 5 0 30 0 18 0 0Inarajan 4 18 1 0 4 0 4 0 2 0 1Mangilao 48 32 10 5 18 0 7 0 6 0 5Merizo 5 14 0 1 0 0 8 1 4 0 2Syphilis, LatentTuberculosis5-9