After Dorian, disease is next threat on shattered Bahamian island

FILE PHOTO: A child's bicycle is seen in a destroyed neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Dorian in Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco, Bahamas, September 7, 2019. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

NASSAU (Reuters) - Piles of debris, decaying human and animal corpses and fetid water on storm-hammered Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas are posing a new risk for those who survived Hurricane Dorian's wrath: Disease.

As the insect population temporarily cleared when Dorian slammed into the islands on Sept. 1 with top sustained winds of 185 miles (298 km) per hour, water-borne and insect-borne diseases, including malaria and dengue fever, are fresh threats for those who remain or return to the island, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a report this week.