Tsunami may have spawned new paralyzing lung disease

Tsunami may have spawned new paralyzing lung disease

By MARGIE MASON
The Associated Press

Many who survived the killer tsunami waves recall first being smashed by the sheer force, then sucking in mouthfuls of saltwater, mud and sand as they gasped for air and struggled to swim.

In at least one case, dirty water taken into the lungs was likely polluted with bacteria that moved through the nervous system to the brain, causing paralysis to parts of the body, according to a report in the June 23 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The condition has been dubbed "tsunami lung" by doctors who treated such patients after the Dec. 26 tsunami.

In the Journal report, researchers documented the case of a 17-year-old female from Banda Aceh, the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, the worst-hit area in the disaster that struck exactly six months ago yesterday. More than 131,000 died and some 37,000 remain missing in Indonesia.

The patient was diagnosed with pneumonia two weeks after being dragged about a half-mile from her home by the mammoth waves. A week after that, the right side of her face became weak along with her leg and arm on the same side, according to the report.

She then stopped talking and had trouble swallowing. Her right arm and leg went limp.

Doctors aboard the USNS Mercy drained yellow fluid from her chest and gave her a series of drugs. The Mercy is a U.S. Navy hospital ship that treated thousands of victims after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami and again after an 8.7-magnitude earthquake three months later off the western coast of Sumatra near Nias island.

The bacteria likely entered her bloodstream and spread to her nervous system, resulting in brain abscesses, the report cited Lt. Cmdr. Dr. Stephen Ferrara as saying.

After aggressive therapy, the girl slowly regained movement in her face and limbs and was eventually able to stand and walk by herself.

The New England Journal report documented only the young woman's case and did not say how many other cases had been detected.

Ferrara said the Mercy team treated four cases of tsunami-related aspiration pneumonia, but he suspects many others may have developed the disease and died before help arrived.

He said it is impossible to know how widespread the disease actually is.

Dr. Subsai Kongsaengdao in Bangkok said he saw similar cases when treating tsunami victims in Thailand.

In an accompanying commentary, he noted 37 cases involving lung infections, including tsunami aspiration pneumonia, that resulted from swallowing saltwater mixed with dirt.

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