Friday, June 10, 2011

New victims of the Joplin tornado have died with a rare fungal infection that is caused by dirt trapped under the skin.

Inadequately cleaned wounds were stitched up quickly, in makeshift facilities:
A week after the tornado, patients began arriving with fungal infections.

"We could visibly see mold in the wounds," Dr. [Uwe] Schmidt said. "It rapidly spread. The tissue dies off and becomes black. It doesn't have any circulation. It has to be removed."...

"This fungus invades the underlying tissue and actually invades the underlying blood vessels and cuts off the circulation to the skin," he said. "It's very invasive."