The contamination of water to the city of Houston and surrounding communities may become another very real medical emergency needing the assistance of the EPA for testing and safeguarding the state of Texas. Since Trump has slashed the EPA Dept. budget and personnel--who will be handling this problem?
Texans and Houstonians DO NOT need useless Presidential photo-ops that glorify Trump. If that is all he has to offer victims of this natural disaster---he needs to keep his ass back at the White House! Empathy and compassion for these victims could be this President's greatest redeeming contribution, in addition to support and supplemental prioritization of federal aid to the suffering citizens of America. Unfortunately, Trump would rather fund his useless wall and avoid spending the national treasury to provide hands-on help to Houston and the gulf coast!
Where are the staff advising Pres. Trump if the possibility of Cholera and its devastating and far-reaching implications are left ignored and unaddressed by the EPA and other government agencies. He will then be responsible for the illness, infections and death of affected Hurricane Harvey victims. That's not a good photo-op or op-ed for the world to watch or read about. It would be a damning recommendation on a Presidential resume.
Texans with Cholera would make a really ugly front page cover story for Trump!
"Boner Appetite!"
Cholera
Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative, comma-shaped bacterium. The bacterium's natural habitat is brackish or saltwater. Some strains of V. cholerae cause the disease cholera. V. cholerae is a facultative anaerobe[1] and has a flagellum at one cell pole as well as pili. V. cholerae can undergo respiratory and fermentative metabolism. When ingested, V. cholerae can cause diarrhea and vomiting in a host within several hours to 2–3 days of ingestion. V. cholerae was first isolated as the cause of cholera by Italian anatomist Filippo Pacini in 1854,[2] but his discovery was not widely known until Robert Koch, working independently 30 years later, publicized the knowledge and the means of fighting the disease.
Ecology and epidemiology[edit]
The main reservoirs of V. cholerae are people and aquatic sources such as brackish water and estuaries, often in association with copepods or other zooplankton, shellfish, and aquatic plants.[14]
Cholera infections are most commonly acquired from drinking water in which V. cholerae is found naturally or into which it has been introduced from the feces of an infected person. Other common vehicles include contaminated fish and shellfish, produce, or leftover cooked grains that have not been properly reheated. Transmission from person to person, even to health care workers during epidemics, is rarely documented. V. cholerae thrives in a aquatic environment, particularly in surface water. The primary connection between humans and pathogenic strains is through water, particularly in economically reduced areas that do not have good water purification systems.[9]
Nonpathogenic strains are also present in water ecologies. The wide variety of pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains that co-exist in aquatic environments are thought to allow for so many genetic varieties. Gene transfer is fairly common amongst bacteria, and recombination of different V. cholerae genes can lead to new virulent strains.[15]
A symbiotic relationship between V. cholerae and Ruminococcus obeum has been determined. R. obeum autoinducer represses the expression of several V. cholerae virulence factors. This inhibitory mechanism is likely to be present in other gut microbiota species which opens the way to mine the gut microbiota of members in specific communities which may utilize autoinducers or other mechanisms in order to restrict colonization by V.cholerae or other enteropathogens.
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