The Twister: Caught in the Storm tells the story of the destructive 2011 EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, and while the tale is well-known, many don’t know about how it led to an outbreak of a flesh-eating fungal disease. Tornados can be terrifying, with them leaving a mᴀssive trail of destruction in any area that they tear through. However, flesh-eating fungal diseases aren’t often the products of tornadoes. The ᴅᴇᴀᴅly fungal infection came along with the Joplin tornado that is covered in Netflix’s The Twister: Caught in the Storm, and here is what happened and how it occurred.

The Twister: Caught in the Storm is an all-new Netflix original documentary that looks at the famous Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado, although through a new lens. The documentary features interviews with many of the individuals who were caught in the storm, such as storm chasers, Joplin residents, and others. Most of the documentary focuses on the events that occurred during the EF5 tornado’s path of destruction, highlighting the stories of those who were caught in the storm. However, The Twister: Caught in the Storm also looks at the tornado’s aftermath, such as the flesh-eating fungal outbreak.

13 People Were Infected With A Flesh-Eating Disease After Joplin 2011’s Tornado (& 5 People Died)

The Disease Is Called Zygomycosis

The 2011 EF5 tornado is Joplin, Missouri was incredibly ᴅᴇᴀᴅly, with it causing 158 direct deaths, over 1,000 injuries, and over $2.8 billion in damages. However, when the winds of the tornado stopped, the tragedy continued. Days after the tornado occurred, several of the tornado’s victims began to show strange symptoms. Upon looking into them, doctors determined that these victims had contracted zygomycosis, a fungal infection that causes blisters and ulcers before the affected areas turn black.

Zygomycosis can be caused by environmental molds and fungi, and the outbreak in Joplin, Missouri was caused by the fungus Apophysomyces trapeziformis. When the first round of infected victims started showing symptoms, doctors rushed to discover what was going on. Tissue was turning black and decaying, showing how serious and urgent the infection was. However, it took a bit for doctors to figure out what was going on, as it was clearly related to the tornadoes. After looking into it, the doctors eventually diagnosed it as zygomycosis.

How Joplin’s EF5 Tornado Spread The Flesh-Eating Apophysomyces Fungus

The Fungus Could Be Found On Debris

Despite having the disease diagnosed, the question of why the outbreak was occurring still remained. According to news reports featured in The Twister: Caught in the Storm, the fungus can be found in soil and decaying vegetation. Since Missouri is in the Ozarks, the fungi was found in some of the areas that the tornado hit. When the tornado came through Joplin, the fungi mixed into some of the debris that the tornado was throwing. This means that the dangerous fungi was spreading throughout Joplin, although this still doesn’t explain how it got inside the 13 infected people.

As it turns out, the fungi got into some humans through penetrative wounds from the debris. The people who were cut or wounded by contaminated pieces of wood, concrete, or other types of materials that had Apophysomyces trapeziformis on it were at risk of developing zygomycosis since the fungus was in their bloodstream. The fast-acting disease infected the 13 victims, with those who contracted zygomycosis having an incredibly low chance of survival.

Netflix’s The Twister: Caught In The Storm Interviews Someone Who Survived Zygomycosis

He Was Dubbed “Miracle Boy” By The Media

Near the end of The Twister: Caught in the Storm, it is revealed that the Netflix documentary has a more personal link to the zygomycosis outbreak. Throughout the documentary, several former Joplin students are interviewed. One of these is Steven Weersing, who says that him and his friends were caught in the tornado while driving through Joplin. Although he spends most of the documentary talking about his experience during the tornado, he eventually reveals that he is one of the individuals who contracted zygomycosis.

Steven Weersing explains that he had a less than 5% chance of survival, leading the news to give him the nickname “Miracle Boy” after his survival. Although Weersing survived zygomycosis, he didn’t come out unscathed. Doctors had to remove several parts of his body that had necrotized, such as his right nipple, several ribs, and parts of his lungs, liver, and heart. Weersing’s condition shows how dangerous and unexpected the zygomycosis outbreak was, with it being one of the many scary parts of the tornado seen in The Twister: Caught in the Storm.