Japan quake victims face health issues

TOKYO, April 26 (UPI) -- Survivors of Japan's earthquake-tsunami disaster are facing a host of health issues because of inadequate facilities and poor nutrition, medical experts said.

In Miyagi Prefecture, one of the worst hit by the March 11 calamity, victims living in evacuation centers must deal with worsening hygienic conditions, power blackouts, insufficient water supply and poor nutrition in food provided by the shelters, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

A doctor only had tap water to wash the bedsores of a 67-year-old bedridden stroke victim and used topical cream on the sores, the report said. Earlier the victim was without the use of an electrically-powered air mat for two weeks as her house had lost both electricity and telephone connection. The air mat helps prevent bedsores.

Doctors from other areas of the country who are at the site to help said say many elderly people complain about not being able to make hospital trips for regular checkups. Some have developed elevated blood pressure and other chronic conditions.

Other doctors say because of insufficient water supply some of the victims are not able to brush their teeth or clean their dentures, causing oral bacteria to go unchecked. Some of the people are unable to swallow without difficulty because of aspiration pneumonia.

Kazuomi Kario, a cardiovascular expert at Jichi Medical University, told Yomiuri if people don't get enough sleep due to mental stress, they face the risk of high blood pressure. He said dehydration can cause blood to thicken resulting in cardiac infarction.