OneWorld.net (U.S.)

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 several cases, 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 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The condition has been dubbed “tsunami lung” by doctors who treated such patients following the December 26 tsunami. They documented the case of a 17-year-old girl from Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

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