Another potentially lethal problem is posed by the five cases of bloody diarrhea recently reported in the camps here in Kukes, a small city in northeastern Albania that has been swamped by a flood of refugees. Dualeh said the cases have been isolated, so far. And the cold weather has actually helped contain the danger. If temperatures rise and the flies that carry the disease begin to hatch, an epidemic could easily arise in the unsanitary conditions. The numbers here are so great that the solution to one problem can sometimes be the cause of yet another.
Food is available now, but garbage collection has become an enormous concern.
With fresh bread delivered every day, stale pieces are thrown in heaps, where they mold or turn to stinking mush. Along with empty sardine tins and used disposable diapers that are now distributed by some agencies, the aid has added substantially to the waste. It accumulates everywhere, even along the stairs to the single mosque in Kukes, a place traditionally swept spotless every day. Nicholas Morris, special envoy to Albania for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said that despite the filth and the cold, there appears to be growing reluctance to leave on the part of a great number of the 100,000 refugees estimated to be here. They also are reluctant to leave behind the tractors on which many came.