On top of everything else these poor people have to deal with:
(AP) JOPLIN, Mo. – An aggressive fungus is striking Joplin tornado victims, contributing to a handful of deaths.
Doctors told the Springfield News-Leader that at least nine survivors may have contracted blood-vessel invading zygomycosis infections.
Overall numbers weren’t available. The Springfield-Greene County Health Department declined to release them, citing patient privacy concerns.
Kendra Williams, of the health department, says the common fungus likely came from soil or vegetative materials imbedded in the skin by the tornado.
Windborne pathogens (not sure that’s the correct term, but the wind can carry things which do ill to the human body)–wow.
My mother spent her entire life in either SW WI or SE WI, and during the Dust Bowl years the winds bore dust clouds from the Southwest and Great Plains into Wisconsin. She developed an ear infection which she had to be medicated for her entire life — I can’t recall if it was viral or a fungus. I vaguely recall it was fungal. It caused discomfort and caused ear wax to be soft and almost runny. Medications became more effective in treating it beginning, iirc in the late 60’s-70’s, but it was a chronic, incurable condition.
But, this thing: embedded in skin by the force of the wind. Not nice. And who would have dreamed that could happen?