Third Street Promenade property owner John Alle asked Dr. Lewis Simon, an infectious disease doctor from UC San Diego, currently working for Santa Monica's UCLA Health Center, to walk through the city's public garages with him over a year ago, when Alle first noted the meth manufacture and human waste in the structures. Dr. Simon came on his own tour of the area last month and, appalled by the conditions he saw, wrote a letter to the city in which he noted "Examples of the dangerous conditions present in Downtown Santa Monica include but are not limited to improperly disposed medical waste and sharps (needles and syringes), human waste in the form of urine and feces, other biohazards in the form of blood and vomit, and rodents and rodent waste."

Each of these conditions "is potentially associated with an increased risk of developing a number of human diseases for those exposed." Dr. Simon noted. The diseases to which the public who use the garages are exposed include Syphilis, Leptospirosis, Hepatitis A (HAV), Hepatitis B (HBV), Hepatitis C (HCV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), West Nile Virus, Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, Typhoid, Escherichia Coli (E. coli) infection, Cholera, Shigellosis, Rotavirus, Cryptosporidiosis, Hantavirus, Tularemia, and Plague.

Dr. Simon finished by concluding, "Due to the aforementioned hazardous conditions and their associated risks, changes need to be made to address these hazards not just to improve the overall conditions present in Downtown Santa Monica parking garages, stairwells, elevators and open dumpster rooms, but to also help ensure that no visitors, residents, employees or business owners unintentionally contract a disease from them."

http://www.dental50plus.com/143 #6258">