Health Risk Not Great for Now, Experts Say

Animals and insects that bite and carry diseases pose the biggest public health danger if Orange County’s trash strike lasts more than two weeks, officials said Tuesday.

Overflowing trash cans attract creatures from roaches and rats to dogs and raccoons. Officials said their biggest concern is the possibility of people being bitten by stray dogs, feral cats or raccoons searching for food.

Rats pose two major health dangers, said Dr. Hildy Meyers, medical director of the county Health Care Agency. If they eat contaminated food and then bite someone, they could pass on food-related diseases such as salmonella. They can also cause rat-bite fever, a nonfatal malady that affects humans, especially children.

Meyers said it is possible but unlikely that rats could transmit other diseases, such as bubonic or pneumonic plague. Plague has been reported in California, “but it’s unlikely to be a problem here,” she said.

During New York City’s trash strike in the early 1980s, a health emergency was declared after 17 days because accumulated garbage threatened to increase rodent and insect infestation.

But Orange County’s trash strike is barely three days old, and it’s too soon to say when it poses a health risk, according to county health officials.

So far, the agency has answered 22 phone inquiries from residents.

Health officials advise residents to keep lids on trash cans, and, if plastic bags are used, to double-bag the trash and keep the bags tightly sealed. To deal with rodents or other vermin, residents may call call Orange County vector control at (714) 971-2421.

Meyers said other items in trash, such as soiled diapers, might contain human pathogens, “but what level of a threat that would be is hard to predict.” The current warm weather also can exacerbate conditions and increase foul odors.

For information, or to report those who allow refuse to pile up outside containers residents may call the county’s Health Care Agency at (714) 667-3600.