>>>沪江汶川地震专题
【摘要】

人们常常会误解自然灾害与传染性疾病之间的关系。人们会从尸体联想到传染病，从而担心“大灾之后必有大疫”。然而，灾后疫情爆发的风险主要是与人口迁移相关的。是否有清洁的水源和卫生设施、人群密度、人群本身的健康状况、以及是否有适当的医疗服务等，都会与当地的疫病生态相互作用，并最终影响传播性疾病爆发的风险以及感染人群的死亡率。我们在此概括了灾后引发疫病的风险因素，评估了可能发生的严重疫情，并对灾后防疫工作的轻重缓急进行疏理。

自然灾害是指大气、地质或水文等因素造成的灾变，包括地震、火山爆发、泥石流、海啸、洪水和干旱等。自然灾害可能会突然爆发，也可能缓慢发作，并对安全健康、社会和经济造成重大影响。在过去二十年中，自然灾害在全球范围已经造成数百万人死亡，并影响到十多亿人的生活，造成了无可估量的经济损失 (1)。资金不足、基础设施薄弱、缺少灾前应急方案的发展中国家在灾难中往往会受到更大创伤。

与自然灾害相关、尤其是突发灾害引起的死亡，大多来自于砸伤、压伤，或者溺水。与之相比，灾后传染性疾病引起的死亡并不太常见。

Abstract
The relationship between natural disasters and communicable diseases is frequently misconstrued. The risk for outbreaks is often presumed to be very high in the chaos that follows natural disasters, a fear likely derived from a perceived association between dead bodies and epidemics. However, the risk factors for outbreaks after disasters are associated primarily with population displacement. The availability of safe water and sanitation facilities, the degree of crowding, the underlying health status of the population, and the availability of healthcare services all interact within the context of the local disease ecology to influence the risk for communicable diseases and death in the affected population. We outline the risk factors for outbreaks after a disaster, review the communicable diseases likely to be important, and establish priorities to address communicable diseases in disaster settings.

Natural disasters are catastrophic events with atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic origins. Disasters include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, floods, and drought. Natural disasters can have rapid or slow onset, with serious health, social, and economic consequences. During the past 2 decades, natural disasters have killed millions of people, adversely affected the lives of at least 1 billion more people, and resulted in substantial economic damages (1). Developing countries are disproportionately affected because they may lack resources, infrastructure, and disaster-preparedness systems.

Deaths associated with natural disasters, particularly rapid-onset disasters, are overwhelmingly due to blunt trauma, crush-related injuries, or drowning. Deaths from communicable diseases after natural disasters are less common.