Fungus Warning For Tsunami Survivors

[stumonster]

Fungus warning for tsunami survivors

January 27, 2005

PEOPLE injured in the December 26 tsunami could fall victim to a little-known deadly fungus, infectious disease specialists said today.

Mucormycosis, an aggressive infection caused by a fungus found in soil and decaying vegetation, has been detected in at least one injured man who returned from Sri Lanka to Sydney's St George Hospital after the Indian Ocean disaster.

Infections disease specialist Dr Pamela Konecny and colleagues at the hospital said the 56-year-old had recovered, but the fungus killed up to 80 per cent of infected people.

Mucormycosis is aggressively treated by surgically removing all dead and infected tissue and giving intravenous and anti-fungal therapy.

But if the patient has underlying immune problems the measures often do not kill the infection.

"Wound infections, both bacterial and fungal, will undoubtedly add to the illness and mortality already recorded in tsunami-affected areas," Dr Konecny and colleagues warned in the international medical journal, The Lancet.

"Other cases of mucormycosis might develop in survivors, but this disease can be difficult to diagnose and even harder to treat, particularly in those who remain in affected regions."

Doctors working in affected areas should be on the look-out for mucormycosis and other fungal and bacterial infections, the team said.

In Australia, those treating tsunami survivors also should be aware that patients could develop unusual diseases or infections.

"Travellers repatriated from affected areas could be good predictors of infections in survivors because they may have greater access to advanced diagnostic services than do those who remain," Dr Konecny said.