The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.- Revelations 8:11.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is assisting state and local health officials in Joplin, Missouri. After the devastating tornado which had struck the place eight people injured and one have contracted a rare fungal infection called mucormycosis which is the cause of his death.Mucormycosis is a fungal contagion of the sinuses, brain, or a lung that occurs primarily in people with immune disorders. It was caused by common fungi frequently found in the soil and in decaying vegetation.Conditions most usually associated with mucormycosis include leukemia/lymphoma, treatment with deferoxamine, diabetes (usually poorly controlled diabetes), chronic steroid use, metabolic acidosis, organ transplantation and AIDS.
Syndromes associated with mucormycosis include:
Rhinocerebral infection (infection of sinuses and brain).May start as a sinus infection and may progress to involve inflammation of cranial nerves.
Pulmonary mucormycosis (lung involvement) — pneumonia that gets worse quickly and may spread to the chest cavity, heart, and brain.May cause blood clots that block vessels to the brain (thrombosis).
Mucormycosis of the gastrointestinal tract, skin, and kidneys.
Symptoms of rhinocerebral mucormycosis include:
Eye swelling and protrusion (proptosis), acute sinusitis (sinus pain or congestion), fever, dark nasal eschar (scabbing) and redness of skin overlying sinuses
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Symptoms of lung (pulmonary) mucormycosis include:
Coughing blood (occasionally), cough, fever, shortness of breath
Symptoms of gastrointestinal mucormycosis include:
Vomiting blood, abdominal pain
Symptoms of kidney (renal) mucormycosis include:
Flank (side) pain, fever
Mucormycosis is treated right away with surgery so that it will remove all dead and infected tissue, together with intravenous (directly into a vein) antifungal therapy.
If anyone in the tornado area that is suffering wounds that are not healing should seek prompt medical attention.
References:
Saunders Elsevier; 2007: chap 360.
Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa
Stevens DA. Aspergillosis. CNN News
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