posted
I don't mean to make light of this, but I'm pretty sure we have effective treatments for the bubonic plague nowadays. That's not to say that this couldn't be bad, but it's not going to wipe out a third of the population of North America either.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
What everyone else said. There are fairly effective treatments for plauge, as long as it's caught early enough (I'm guessing that's where the one out of the seven comes in).
I'm far more concerned about the likelihood of a flu pandemic than I am the plague.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Nowadays we can effectively stop plague but whats scary is if these mice were stolen. Think of the weapon possibilites.
Posts: 832 | Registered: Jan 2005
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My kid goes to school in Newark. Commutes on the train. When I picked him up from the station last night, I told him about the plague mice that have been missing for the past two weeks.
He wasn't that pleased.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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At least he didn't say, "Well Mom, I have these two pet mice I found that I didn't tell you about..."
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Tante Shvester: That's alright, dear. Bubonic plague isn't contagious. It is one of those non-contagious plagues. You see those all the time.
(actually, this is exactly what I told my kid. He was skeptical.)
Actually, bubonic plague *is* contagious, it's just not communicable from person to person. It's vector borne, like typhus, malaria and dengue. And as someone else mentioned, if the organism gets into the blood stream or the lungs, it can turn into pneumonic plague, which is extremely communicable from person to person.
All of our bioterrorism exercises use pneumonic plague as the agent of choice... public health folks are very sensitive about Yersinia Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Eh. I had a friend who got bit by a squirrel while hiking once and had to be treated for bubonic plague. It's kind of endemic in some of CA's mountain areas.
It doesn't scare me as much as rabies. Those shots hurt.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I think the mention of bubonic plague brings out a visercal reaction in people. The "Holy [expletive of choice], the PLAGUE!"
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Am I the only person here who at first glance, thought the title had the word "plaque" instead and thought we were going to have a thread about dental visits?
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I don't look forward to getting my rabies shots in a year or two. I heard they are not fun, but, as far as I have been told, they don't give the shot to you in your stomach anymore...just the arm.
Posts: 306 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Didn't the first instance of biological warfare utilize the bubonic plague? I seem to recall reading about armies catapaulting (sp?) horse corpses with infected fleas on them into cities under seige. Then the inhabitants would get sick and die off until capturing the city went like that <fingersnap>.
Wouldn't it be interesting if those mice were used in the LAST instance of biological warfare [dramatic pause] EVER KNOWN TO THE DYING RACE OF MAN?!?!?!!?
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
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... according to medieval medical lore, the stench of rotting bodies was known to transmit infections. So when corpses were used as ammunition, they were no doubt intended as biological weapons.
1340 Attackers hurled dead horses and other animals by catapult at [a]... castle in northern France. The defenders reported that "the stink and the air were so abominable... they could not long endure" and negotiated a truce. [no evidence of plague here really]
1346 During a siege of Caffa, a port on the Black Sea, the attackers suffered an outbreak of plague. Before abandoning their attack, they sent the infected bodies of their comrades over the walls of the city. Fleeing residents carried the disease to Italy, furthering the second major epidemic of "Black Death" in Europe.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I am with whoever said that a new flu epidemic, or even a huge outbreak of the West Nile Virus is far more frightning. Even more frightning than that would be a new outbreak of the Smallpox. Although, I am not sure that is very likely. The Ebola virus is also a nasty critter, but it has shown itself to burn out quickly because of the fearsness of its attack. Now, if it showed up in a heavily populated area it could take longer to dissipate, but with careful actions it shouldn't spread more than a city or three.
Posts: 2207 | Registered: Oct 2003
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