The East Japan Great Earthquake and Three Cases of Near-Drowning with Tsunami Due to the Earthquake

Yoshihiro Inoue, Yasuhisa Fujino, Makoto Onodera, Satoshi Kikuchi, Masayuki Sato, Hisaho Sato, Hironobu Noda, Masahiro Kojika, Yasushi Suzuki, Shigeatu Endo

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Department of Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Morioka-shi, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/ojcd.2014.43023                

Abstract

We encountered the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The magnitude of the earthquake is 9.0 and it is one of the greatest from A.D. 1900 to now. The earthquake developed large tsunami and many people living on the pacific coast of east Japan died from lung disorder caused by near drowning with tsunami. We also encountered three cases of lung disorders caused by near drowning. All three were females, and two of them were old elderly. All segments of both lungs were involved in all the three patients, necessitating ICU admission and endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. All three died within three weeks. In at least two cases, misswallowing of oil was suspected from the features noted at the time of the detection. Many bacteria were detected from the phlegm of two cases.

Keywords

Tsunami, Drowning, Pneumonia

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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