The other night I had the distinct pleasureantonym of trying to sleep through a typhoon.

As typhoon Melor whistled and whirled through the night, one of my thoughts was “Why do they always make so much noise”?

Hurricanes are very loud and wet and some of them bang away at our doors, remove our roofs and tear down power lines. They take chairs, newspapers, and other possessions with them as they go.

I’ve often heard that they carry diseases too.

Fresh and alert in the morning, I went in search of answers to the question of whether storms truly have the ability to carry disease causing germs.

This is what I found:

People are more at risk during a hurricane because the stress of what is going on and the changes in temperature slightly impair our body’s ability to defend itself.

Hurricanes and typhoons are powerful. They have high wind speeds. This means that it is relatively easy for them to lift and carry a roof or something even lighter, like wind-borne bacteria and viruses.

Dust storms feature the same swirling wind motion as typhoons and hurricanes.

They have been linked to an increase in respiratory illnesses and meningitis. For example, outbreaks of the fungus that causes Valley Fever in the United States usually occur after a dust storm in that region.

Influenza (flu) is a respiratory disease. We get the flu by breathing it in, not by swallowing.

Flu gets around mostly by using the air. Coughing, sneezing and powerful winds help to pass it along. Coughing and sneezing generates particles of many sizes. Some of these have a diameter of less than 5 microns and are small enough to be easily transported by air.

Dust storms have also been subjected to continuous scientific study for their role in spreading disease to the far corners of the earth and it has been found that some of the germs people inhale in New York for example, are from a completely different part of the globe.

Typhoons and hurricanes carry dust and water, therefore the same germ-carrying effect is possible. Bacteria, fungal spores and other microscopic forms of life are easily carried along by the high speed winds found in a storm.

Some people suffer breathing problems after, due to the mold spores carried around by hurricanes and typhoons. Inhalation is the chief route of exposure to fungal spores.

The H1N1 virus, popularly known as swine flu, is airborne. Under regular conditions, swine flu can travel as ten feet through air.

In storm season, you should boost your immune system by eating and resting well, wash your hands frequently and avoid sources of germs as much as possible!