Monster Missouri Twister that Killed 5 with a Flesh-Eating Fungus

I don't remember anything like this happening before and I hope and pray it never happens again. I was just reminded of the monster Missouri twister that brought death and destruction not just with its violent winds, but also with a vicious flesh-eating fungus that claimed 5 souls.

There are few twisters in American history more notorious than the one that devastated Joplin, Missouri in May of 2011. It has entered the public psyche again thanks to a new documentary that debuted on Netflix a few days ago. "The Twister: Caught in the Storm" has been one of the most streamed shows on the channel since its debut on Friday, March 14.

It brought back one aspect of that Missouri twister that I had long-forgotten. It caused an outbreak of a flesh-eating fungus that claimed 5 lives as documented by the National Library of Medicine. This man featured in the Netflix documentary was one of the few survivors of that infection.

Once he was found by his friends after being lifted out of the car he was in by the tornado, he was only given a 5% chance of living by doctors. He pulled through and now has a happy family with a wife and children. Others were not so fortunate.

Science Daily says the flesh-eating bacteria that ravaged Joplin after the EF-5 tornado of 2011 was called Apophysomyces. They say it's a common fungus in the ground and water that is harmless to humans unless it's introduced deep into wounds which is exactly what happened on that day in May of 2011 in Joplin, Missouri.

It was an additional misery that was added to the already-tragic day in that part of southeastern Missouri that we hopefully will never relive again.