Quake Survivors Now Mired in Squalor

But for children younger than 5, respiratory infections are the No. 1 concern, a trend that worries Din, the Humanity First doctor.

"Once children come down with respiratory illnesses," he warned, "it can spread through the camps like wildfire."

Although the doctors say Old Government Camp is perhaps the worst of disease incubators, widespread illness also poses a problem elsewhere.

Pakistani health officials report 8,000 cases of respiratory illness and 7,000 cases of diarrhea. There have also been hundreds of cases of tetanus, resulting in scores of deaths among the 3.2 million people left homeless by the earthquake, they say.

Officials also note that 17,000 pregnant women in the quake-affected area are expected to give birth by Christmas, leading to what may be a new generation of patients.

Some mothers living in places such as Old Government Camp will suffer from lack of medical care, doctors say.

"This is the second wave of the disaster," Watson said. "The sheer magnitude of the problem is difficult to comprehend if you haven't been there to see it for yourself."

Frankfurt orthopedic surgeon Umair Bajwa, 30, has seen the squalor daily since he began making rounds last week.

The Pakistani-born physician, whose family moved to Germany when he was an infant, also speaks Urdu, enabling residents to describe their woes without being hampered by a language barrier.

"I feel very empathetic toward these people," he said. "No one should have to live like this."

In one tent, Bajwa encountered a young child coughing so hard that his face had turned a purplish red. He spoke urgently with the mother in Urdu.

"I haven't seen this child before today," he said afterward. "I told the mother -- no, I pleaded with her -- to please bring that boy to see me as soon as possible" at the new tent clinic he had helped set up at the camp.

Next, he approached a man standing in the entryway of a misshapen tent.

"How many people are living here?" the doctor asked.

"Thirteen," the man replied.

"The tent is too small," Bajwa said. He noticed a rusty bucket of water nearby. "Are you drinking that water?"

The man, a 30-year-old father of three named Mansoor Hussain, shot a guilty glance at his wife.

"No," he told Bajwa. "We use it just to wash our hands."

Slowly, however, the father opened up. He worried about his 1-year-old daughter's persistent diarrhea.