Health Rounds: Deaths linked to hurricanes still occur years after storm hits
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By Nancy Lapid
Oct 3 (Reuters) -Hello Health Rounds Readers! In the aftermath of immensely destructive Hurricane Helene, which left more than 160 people dead, we have a troubling study that found deaths related to such storms can occur for many years afterward. We also cover a potentially important discovery about the nature of RSV, and a debunking of a sleep disorder treatment being touted on social media.
Hurricane death tolls extend for 15 years
Hurricanes and tropical storms in the United States cause a surge of deaths for nearly 15 years after the initial weather event strikes, new research suggests.
Governments only record the number of people killed during these tropical cyclones, usually due to drowning or injury. A new analysis, published in Nature, estimates that an average U.S. tropical cyclone indirectly causes 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths during ensuing years.
Since 1930, these storms have contributed to between 3.6 million and 5.2 million U.S. deaths, whereas official government tallies put the total at about 10,000 deaths, according to the report.
“A big storm will hit, and there’s all these cascades of effects where cities are rebuilding or households are displaced or social networks are broken," with serious consequences for public health, study leader Solomon Hsiang of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability said in a statement.
“In any given month, people are dying earlier than they would have if the storm hadn’t hit their community,” Hsiang said.
The study’s estimates are based on data from the 501 tropical cyclones that hit the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 1930 to 2015, and mortality rates for various populations within each state before and afterward.
While the study finds that more than 3 in 100 deaths nationwide are related to tropical cyclones, the burden is far higher for certain groups, with Black individuals three times more likely to die after a hurricane.
The many ways in which storms affect death rates over time aren't clear yet. Public spending may shift away from promoting long-run health to focus on immediate recovery needs, the researchers suggest.
Individuals might use retirement savings to repair property damage, reducing their ability to pay for future healthcare, they speculated. Family members might move away, weakening support networks that could be critical for good health down the line.
“These events can be so separated from the initial hazard that even affected individuals and their families may not see the connection,” the researchers said.
Clues to RSV structure may help prevent infections
Discoveries about the complex structure of the respiratory syncytial virus may eventually help prevent or slow infections from the virus, researchers said.
RSV causes critical illness for hundreds of thousands of children, older adults, and other high-risk groups in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The precise structure of the virus has eluded researchers, making it difficult to identify targets for drugs.
Using an imaging technique called cryo-electron tomography, researchers have now discovered details of molecules and structures essential to RSV’s form and function.
Their report, published in Nature Communications, includes high-resolution images detailing the structure of two RSV proteins, RSV M and RSV F, that are crucial to interactions between the virus and the host cell membrane.
RSV F proteins sit on the viral surface, where they can engage with proteins on host cell surfaces and regulate the virus’ fusion and entry. The scientists believe F proteins may be a key to destabilizing the virus before it can infect its next host, making them a possible target for future drug development.
“Our primary findings reveal structural details that allow us to better understand not only how the protein regulates assembly of viral particles, but also the coordination of proteins that enable the virus to be infectious,” study leader Elizabeth Wright of the University of Wisconsin–Madison said in a statement.
Social media mouth-taping advice isn’t for everyone
Taping the mouth shut is no panacea for improving sleep or easing obstructive sleep apnea and in some cases can actually worsen a person’s airflow, contrary to social media posts touting the practice.
There is little objective data to back up these claims, and data from a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery found the practice to be marginally effective for some patients but also potentially dangerous.
“A deluge of coverage regarding the benefits of mouth taping on sleep quality has recently flooded social media,” with more than 7,000 posts garnering 7 million views available on TikTok with the hashtag #mouthtape, an accompanying editorial said.
In sleep studies performed in 54 middle-aged adults with sleep apnea, they found that forced mouth closure does sometimes improve airflow, but the effect varies depending on the extent to which people breathe through their mouth.
With moderate levels of mouth-breathing, airflow improves with mouth-taping. With no mouth-breathing, mouth-taping has no effect.
In those with high levels of mouth breathing, or who breathe through their mouth and have severe obstruction at the soft palate, airflow worsens with mouth closure.
It’s also possible that mouth closure would have adverse effects in patients who breathe through the mouth because of nasal obstruction, the authors said.
“These findings should temper the general belief that preventing mouth breathing during sleep will be universally beneficial,” they concluded.
Reporting by Nancy Lapid; editing by Bill Berkrot
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