A military hospital ship will soon be heading to the Gulf area to provide medial assistance. The USNS Comfort is a 1,000-bed floating hospital and is scheduled to be in the region by late next week.
Meanwhile, health officials are very concerned about potential illnesses in the aftermath of the storm.
Dr. Jeff Starke, director of infectious diseases control at Texas Children's Hospital, joined MSNBC's Lisa Daniels on Wednesday to discuss the health risks that people in the hurricane-ravaged area may face in the coming weeks.
"The problem is that we're back to public health 101 - things that Americans take for granted, and that's clean water and clean food," Starke said, noting that boiled water can be used for food and drinking purposes if necessary.
"The other thing that is very important about food safety is that anything now that requires refrigeration or freezing is probably not any good anymore and should not be eaten because of the risk of bacteria and viruses that can cause gastrointestinal diseases," Starke said.
"Most of the diseases are going to be gastrointestinal diseases," Starke said. "If you think about it, we're worried about sewage and frankly dead carcasses of animals and unfortunately people as well."
"These are the conditions in third world countries that cause cholera outbreaks," Starke added. "We certainly hope that doesn't happen in New Orleans, that's not very likely. But there are certainly other gastrointestinal diseases that also can cause very severe disease.
He noted that gastrointestinal diseases are a double-whammy, further creating dehydration and diarrhea. "Then the problem of the lack of food and water gets even worse," he said.
Starke said that while there has been some talk of concerns over mosquito-borne diseases, the bigger concern, based on experience in other flooding situations is skin and soft-tissue infections.
"People get breaks in the skin from mosquito bites and minor injuries, breaks in the skin and cuts and so-forth. Then if they're in this dirty water, the risk for infection is very severe," he said. "It's very important that people do basic first aid if they have cuts or nicks or bites. ... Remember that alcohol and bleach kill most important germs and can be used in emergency first aid."
"Whatever you do, stay out of flood water. Nobody should be going in this water unless they can help it," he added. "Certainly nobody should try to wade through it or collect anything. It's actually quite dangerous right now."