Hurricane Ian Is Blamed for Deadly Bacterial Infections in Florida
The storm is blamed for causing a “public health emergency” in Florida, a Category 4 hurricane, which is classified by the National Hurricane Center as the fourth strongest on the planet.
The storm has left millions without power and killed at least 14 people, along with injuring at least 40.
The storm has left millions without power and killed at least 14 people, along with injuring at least 40.
The storm has left millions without power and killed at least 14 people, along with injuring at least 40.
Hurricane-related deaths have been blamed on a range of factors, but with most of them caused by storm surge, the effects of which are magnified as the storm gets closer to the coasts. One that has garnered particular attention are what is now being called the “Fiji effect,” after the island home to many of the fatalities, which the BBC refers to as “the world’s most active area of high mortality” for those who die in hurricanes — although it is not clear that this is true, or that it is actually a hurricane-induced infection.
The CDC has blamed the disease, called Septicovarian syndrome, on what its experts describe as a combination of factors, including the fact that the storm forced residents in these homes to evacuate, “and also the fact that there was no food available for the people left in the hotels.”
The CDC is now taking new swabs from the victims, to see if any of them may have the strain of the bug, with one expert pointing out that the chances are pretty low, saying that “this is the first time that a bacteria or virus has been detected in a hurricane, and certainly the first time that bacteria are known to have been brought into a hurricane.”
Still, a report in the Wall Street Journal points to the potential for the Fijian bacteria to spread. “The tropical storm’s strong winds and flooding could have carried bacteria and viruses, and they could have contaminated the food supplies and the water supplies,” it states.
Even if the bacteria