Dying From The Oldies
The CBC reports that the Plague outbreak in China traced to marmot
A wild marmot was the likely source of an outbreak of pneumonic plague in China that killed three people, according to the World Health Organization.
“According to the epidemiological investigation, the source of this outbreak was a wild marmot, which had contact with the dog of the index case,” the United Nations agency said in a statement Tuesday.
…Pneumonic plague occurs when the lungs become infected by the bacterium Yersinia pestis — the same microbe that causes bubonic plague, an infection of the lymphatic system. Pneumonic plague can spread from person to person through the air, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It is curable if treated early with antibiotics. The three deaths have been attributed largely to delayed treatment, WHO said.
“Marmots are members of the genus Marmota, in the rodent family Sciuridae (squirrels).”
They are called ground squirrels in many places and groundhogs in the US. Prairie dogs are a different genus, Cynomys, in the same family. The dog was the first to die, before the people.
2 comments
With this disease, as with America’s healthcare coverage crisis, the problem seems to be mnemonic plague… memories are plagued by an inability to remember that all of this happened before, and all of it is liable to happen again if pursued with the same ineffective response. “Those who do not learn from history…”
Less than a day after Obama praised him as someone who was working for consensus, Charles Grassley told a town hall in Iowa that they were right to be afraid of the living will provisions in the health care legislation.
They are scorpions, and will always be scorpions.
George Santayana also described “fanaticism” as “redoubling your effort after you’ve forgotten your aim.” What is the point of this legislation if it doesn’t address any of the problems?
BTW, mnemonic plague has joined liar side chat as YDD-isms.