When natural disasters demolish shelter, destroy sources of clean drinking water, and disrupt the availability of medical care, vast numbers of people are placed at increased risk of disease. The infectious diseases that propagate under these conditions are usually common ones. Occasionally, a natural disaster alters the local environment in ways that markedly increase the prevalence of a disease that is endemic to a geographic region, occurring only as isolated cases under normal conditions. Many of these infections may affect the thorax. In this article, we discuss the radiologic findings of 4 infectious diseases, coccidioidomycosis, leptospirosis, melioidosis, and Chagas disease, which may flourish after natural disasters strike areas where they are endemic.
*Department of Radiology, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
†Tropical and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University and Northern Territory Clinical School, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
‡Jefe de la Division de Imagen, Centro Medico
§Sociedad Mexicana de Radiologia e Imagen Ciudad de Mexico, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Reprints: Loren Ketai, MD, Department of Radiology, MSC10 5530, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131-0001 (e-mail: lketai@unm.edu).
