Huckabee better get things straightened out in his home state if he wants to even think about running for President.
Outbreak of Leprosy in Arkansas
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i dont think Leprosy is the disease we have to worry about, but Polio and Tuberculosis are.
posted by Linecrosser on Feb 08, 2008 at 03:21:27 pm #
and poverty from downward pressure on wages caused by a growing migrant workforce willing to work for peanuts.
Heck, if you want to be worried about a disease, consider smallpox. Variola major produces a 30-50% mortality rate among the immunologically-naive, which is most of the planet these days. I was among the last generation of Americans to be vaccinated for smallpox in 1969, and there's no guarantee that my shot will be effective against the strains kept in storage by the U.S. and Russian governments.
This, of course, also assumes that other governments or terrorists do not have their hands on smallpox. Once out, this highly contagious airborne virus infects and kills quickly. Good luck trying to put this biological genie back in the bottle.
And yes - I think the reintroduction of smallpox to humans is a question of when, not if. I just hope it happens after I kick the metaphorical bucket.
posted by historymike on Feb 08, 2008 at 04:30:17 pm #
Did you hear about the leper hockey game?
They had a "face off" at center ice.
Thank you, good night. Don't forget to tip your waitress.
My compliments and thanks to HistoryMike for his sanity check at the door regarding Leprosy.
Further, HM states:
and there's no guarantee that my shot will be effective against the strains kept in storage by the U.S. and Russian governments.
It's almost a certainty that your immunization will fail against the strains kept by the US and other nations. It's also a certainty that Islamic nations have no samples of this disease, as they would have used it by now against their enemies, counting on Allah to protect them, or at least to sort them out in the hereafter.
I have never feared a nuclear attack by terrorists or by another nation, but the thought of a biological war makes me lose sleep.
Did you hear what the leperous man said to the prostitute when he paid her?
"You can keep the tip."
posted by braincramp on Feb 10, 2008 at 12:00:08 pm #
Ebola is a "good" one. As far as I know no vaccines yet. The outbreak just has to "burn" itself out. There are other hemmoraghic (?) fevers that also rather bad. The problem with spreading them is that there is no vaccine. Those spreading the disease would likely die. Oh crap, we have an enemy who has no problem doing that.
posted by oldsendbrdy on Feb 10, 2008 at 12:17:58 pm #
Ah. Now KFSM, the station that started the leprosy scare by quoting some poorly-informed doctor, issues a retraction on the previous scare-mongering story.
The original story has been pulled.
posted by historymike on Feb 11, 2008 at 10:39:06 am #
That article is a crock of media scare-mongering. Leprosy has one of the lowest rates of communicability of any contagious disease, and 95% of humans have natural immunity to the disfiguring disease. Even health care workers and family members of leprosy patients have low rates of infection.
That shock piece is almost as bad as this WorldNutDaily article that claimed illegal aliens are making America a 'leper colony'. Besides - what does this have to do with Huckabee?
posted by historymike on Feb 08, 2008 at 02:52:31 pm #