Photo by Julie Denesha/Getty Images
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Health officials say flying debris from the tornado that tore through Joplin, Missouri, last month is to blame for an outbreak of a rare but serious — and in some cases deadly — fungal infection among some of the more than 900 people injured in the disaster.
Soil or plant matter on debris that penetrated the skin of some of the people who survived the twister is believed to have caused them to contract an infection called zygomycosis, said Uwe Schmidt, an infectious diseases physician at Freeman Health System in Joplin.
Schmidt said he knows of at least nine patients who have had the infection in the weeks since the disaster. Three or four of them died and he said zygomycosis was a factor, if not the actual cause…
He said he had previously only seen two cases of zygomycosis in his career…
Symptoms of pain, swelling and skin discoloration typically showed up about five to 10 days after the tornado, Kendra Williams, epidemiologist, said. But depending on a person’s age, health and wounds suffered, some cases could still surface, Schmidt said. The infection can spread rapidly and invades the blood supply, he said.
Treatment is with intravenous anti-fungal mediation and removal of damaged skin tissue, Schmidt said. Mold can be seen in some of the wounds, he said.
Cripes. These folks can’t win for losing.
Obviously, this has happened countless times before, and it is our microbiology sciences that are now able to identify the fungus/bacteria. So, at least the people afflicted have a better chance of recovery than in the past. In the civil war, almost any gunshot wound or shrapnel injury meant death, unless amputation occured right away.
It’s startling that people live to be 70 years old, given all the ways for life to be overcome.
I love the wiki. Nice photo of the disease.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygomycosis
Obama doesn’t care about white people.
Much bad juju.
I guess they didn’t pray to God enough. It’s very apparent that He needs a lot of sucking up to, before he doles out the tiniest of “miracles”.
In #5, Skepic said: I guess they didn’t pray to God enough.
Screw that, they got the whole fuckin’ tornado (an act of God.)
Our God is a vengeful God.
He ain’t just beating around the burning bush. He sets Arizona on fire.
He ain’t just a little pissed off. He floods the Mississippi from the northern plains to New Orleans.
I figure the diseases that the survivors caught along with the high-speed flying debris are just icing on the whole cursed cake.
#6 Of course it could be that he/she/it doesn’t care any more about you than you care about he/she/it.
#6 & 7
Or it could be that these were just random acts of nature. The only reason we noticed is because our expanding population hasn’t left much virgin territory around.
Or not.
#7, the holiest of holy are not immune to the wrath, or the indifference, of any gods or God. I’m sure there were many first born, children, and many near-perfect Christians swept up in those tornadoes. I believe in fate. I can’t wait for the posts that will claim that therefore, fate is a religion.
Perhaps they have the wrong God?
They are all busy praying to Yahweh (southern baptist v2.0) and Thor is sending these tornadoes to show his displeasure.
We need a controlled experiment where each household prays to a different God and we see which house is spared.
I’ve only been around a small tornado and that was terrifying. I can’t even imagine what these people have been through.
Re #2, Bobbo… is that, perhaps, a picture of the eye that was designed to perfection by God… the one that couldn’t have evolved by surviving nature’s challenges for an eon?
Skeptic–I think the better distinction, given that God designs EVERYTHING to perfection, is that the eye is a favorite “proof” of creationists that evolution is impossible. Not difficult, but impossible. Sets up a nice litmus test for whether one is a Man of Science or has devolved to the superstitious non-think science ignorant DOGMA of religion.
So, the little nasties are everywhere in competition, above us in the food chain, just waiting, eons if necessary, for the weak to present themselves. They lack mobility though to mass their forces–the wind being their mass transit. Just like any free service, it never goes when and where you want it to though–same for the mold.
Our bodies are constantly fighting off the nasties, often using other nasties that partnered up with us in a doubles match against our competitors.
Yes, its Darwin all the way down. Thanks for highlighting the issue.
Actually I think I read something about this microbe before. If I remember correctly this fungus is getting scarily common in the Pacific Northwest. As they say “1,000,000 ways to die, choose one.” Sad though, this is the last thing these people need right now.
Oops, my bad! :-0 I just fact checked my last comment. It turns out the fungus in question in the Pacific Northwest is actually Cryptococcus gattii. Here is the article if one is so inclined.
http://mylocalhealthguide.com/rare-tropical-fungus-infection-on-the-rise-in-the-nortwest-cdc/
My mom who is a nurse at Freeman was telling me about the mold in the wounds. Didn’t know it was deadly…damn.
Reading this story made me laugh so much. It’s so obvious all of you folks don’t know or don’t care that when a disaster hits plenty of things are screwed up because crap is everywhere, and in this case flying into anything.
Can you guess what else is not safe and can cause harm to people from a tornado? I’m guessing none of you know even one. Am I wrong? Better Google.
Um, you read this article and it made you laugh, but we are the ones who do not care. Oh, and btw! Ruptured gas lines, downed power lines,broken glass… do I have to go on? And for what it’s worth I didn’t have to Google those either. My advice to you is think before you post. You are coming off like a synonym for the word donkey.
To all of you out there NOT from Joplin:
keep your damned reigion and politics out of this please!
And please donate to the RED CROSS.
Thank You!
—- A Citizen of Joplin, Mo
This is so tragic. First they survive from a disaster and now the are dying from another. That’s really tragic