Flood dermatoses: A literature review

Abstract

The most frequent calamity in the world, flooding has killed around 53,000 people in just the previous ten years. Prior to 2011, flooding was the most frequent type of disaster on the planet, accounting for about half of all natural disaster victims and nearly US $185 trillion in economic losses. Flood dermatoses can be divided into four categories: (i) Inflammatory skin diseases (such as irritant contact dermatitis); (ii) Fungal and bacterial infections; (iii) Traumatic skin diseases; and (iv) Other miscellaneous skin diseases (such as an allergic reaction to an insect bite and psycho-emotionally aggravating primary skin diseases). Here we review and summarise a number of articles on flood related skin diseases in an effort to improve knowledge and recognition of these conditions for both dermatologists and general practitioners in order to provide the best and most appropriate management of these particular skin diseases in emergency situations.