...And in Peru.Malaria isn't the only health concern related to El Nino. The unusually high temperatures the weather pattern brings to some regions have resulted in an upswing Upswing An upward turn in a security's price after a period of falling prices. in the number of children suffering from diarrhea and dehydration in Lima, Peru. So say Eduardo Salazar-Lindo of the Cayetano Heredia Cayetano Heredia (August 5, 1797 – June 11, 1861) was a Peruvian physician, born in Catacaos, Piura (Peru). Together with Hipolito Unanue he was one of the two greater Peruvian physicians of the 19th century. Hospital in Lima and his colleagues. The team monitored the patients admitted to the rehydration rehydration /re·hy·dra·tion/ (-hi-dra´shun) the restoration of water or fluid content to a patient or to a substance that has become dehydrated. re·hy·dra·tion n. 1. unit at the hospital and found a higher-than-expected number of cases of diarrhea and dehydration during the first 9 months of 1997. The researchers detail their findings in the Nov. 29 Lancet. The authors wonder whether Peru and other countries affected by El Nino should brace not only for more diarrhea and dehydration but also for an outbreak of cholera, a disease characterized by these symptoms. Researchers know that the bacterium that causes cholera lives in copepods, marine animals that feed on algae algae (ăl`jē) [plural of Lat. alga=seaweed], a large and diverse group of primarily aquatic plantlike organisms. These organisms were previously classified as a primitive subkingdom of the plant kingdom, the thallophytes (plants that (SN: 4/6/96, p. 218). The speculation is that El Nino warms the water, leading to an algae bloom--and a rise in the copepod copepod: see crustacean. copepod Any of the 10,000 known species of crustaceans in the subclass Copepoda. Copepods are widely distributed and ecologically important, serving as food for many species of fish. population. |
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