Daily Science Dose

Somethin’s goin’ on in Congo. First they thought typhoid, now, hemorrhagic fever (maybe Marburg or Ebola).

I promise - I haven’t forgotten about salmonella. It’s just…it’s a very gigantic topic! I had no idea! For example, did you know that typhoid is a salmonella? I sure didn’t. So, I’m researching salmonella so I can give you a very good picture of what salmonella is all about. Literally and figuratively. There are some good pics out there, flagella all hangin’ loose, medusa-style.

Back to Congo. Over 100 people have died, and they started dying two weeks ago. Check out this lovely bit of info, courtesy of ProMed-mail:

“The deaths began following the funeral of 2 village chiefs. ‘Everyone
that attended those funerals is now dead,’ said the medical inspector.”

O yikes. That sucks, huh? Right out of a horror movie.

Fluwiki has directed me over to the quite awesome Scott McPherson and his lovely blog. My blog now has a big crush on Scott McPherson’s blog. Scott’s keeping excellent tabs on all the latest H5N1/bird flu news. Also, there are some pics of skeletons on there now. Hot!

Where was I? O yes, happy to not be in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Here’s the really exciting/terrifying bit, a quote from BBC News (hat tip Okieman @ fluwiki):

“Speaking from Kananga, the capital of West Kasai region, Dr Jean-Constantin Kanow said the illness had first started three months ago, when chickens and pigs started dying - but now people were also affected.”

Q: Does Marburg or Ebola kill chickens and pigs?
A: No.
Q: What does kill chickens and pigs and people too?
A: Influenza.
Q: But would a normal influenza kill so many chickens and pigs and people?
A: No.
Q: What kind of influenza would do such a thing?
A: High path H5N1, a/k/a, bird flu, as in the bird flu everyone means these days when they say “bird flu.”

Probably, it’s nothing. I mean, um, hopefully, it’s Marburg. ? I mean. Um. O yes, hopefully, whatever it is has nothing to do with chickens and pigs dying. Perhaps this Dr. Kanow made that part up. We don’t want Marburg and Ebola spreading from birds to people, nor from pigs to people. As far as we know, it can’t. But, bird flu can.

We’ve had so very many close calls. Check out this story from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. It’s about the newly-confirmed human to human spread of H5N1 in Indonesia.

Here’s a quote:

“It is the nightmare possibility that health authorities have been fearing ever since the disease first appeared.

It happened in Indonesia last year and reveals the world only narrowly avoided a global bird flu pandemic.”

I know all bird flu news may seem like people crying over wolves, but that’s a good thing. It means the people who spend their days and nights working to prevent pandemics…it means they’ve been doing great work. It also means we’re all very lucky.

Let’s hope that those people in Congo only have a bad case of Ebola or something. Let’s hope that their chickens and pigs are a-ok.

Here’s hoping! Just in case, might wanna revisit the “what if”s of a pandemic. You know, renew your Sam’s Club/Costco card, stock up on Spaghettios.

mmm…spaghettios…

Congo, H5N1, bird flu, Marburg, Ebola, virus, hemorrhagic fever, outbreak, typhoid, salmonella, Scott McPherson, chickens and pigs, flu wiki