They are in cover-up mode. This is where I start sniffing the air. In the coming weeks, millions of Muslims will be making the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. The Saudi government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have not got this Kidney attacking SARS under control. The Saudi government says there is nothing to worry about. Everything is fine, it’s not that bad. Millions of people will be exposed over the next few weeks, and my feeling is they don’t want a panic, or even worse, some kind of violent outburst. The WHO is even saying that it is NOT SARS, and is nothing like it, oh except for the fact that it is EXACTLY like SARS with the deadly addition of also attacking your kidneys. Look for this to balloon in the next few weeks.
Category Archives: Viruses, bacteria, plagues, disease
Saudi Arabian SARS
This story has all the makings of a conspiracy, but I do not quite believe it yet. Apparently in Saudi Arabia and Qatar there is a strain of SARS that has killed two people by respiratory failure and kidney failure. Now this is where it gets interesting: Remember that SARS is a flu like disease, killing people through respiratory failure. This one involves the Kidneys. Two completely unrelated body systems. This is not something seen in the previous SARS strains that ravaged through China a few years ago. I will keep looking into this before I draw any conclusions.
Popcorn Lung? That’s too silly a name for something serious.
Popcorn Lung. The savoriest of all afflictions. Yes it’s real. Apparently if you inhale the artificial butter flavoring (Diacetyl) for long enough (in this case, it was 3 times a day for ten years), you can collapse your lungs around 50%. We are talking about incidental inhalation during consumption (eating). This is CRAZY! How can something so dangerous (harmful) make it past food trials?
The reason this made the news is because the man afflicted successfully sued for 7 million dollars. He took these three companies to court: Gilster-Mary Lee Corp., and Dillon Companies Inc., (the manufacturer) and The Kroger Co. (The supermarket). You know what tastes the same but is will not cause lung cancer? Buttered Popcorn flavored Jelly Bellys. Those things are amazing.
Anyway, guess I have to do an update:
1. Pertussis – “Whooping Coughâ€
2. Fatal rash caused by staph infection
3. “Flesh Eating Bacteriaâ€, also a staph infection
4. The Bubonic Plague
5. Ebola
6. Capnocytophaga – Woman lost hands and feet from dog saliva
7. Untreatable Gonorrhea
8. Kid died from a brain destroying ameoba, found in a lake
9. West Nile Virus
10. Hantavirus
11. Rabies
12. Typhus
13. Legionnaires Disease
14. New Jersey Superbug
15. Popcorn Lung
Back in Black Death *Story Update*
As reported earlier this year, an Oregon man was saving a choking cat by pulling a mouse out of its throat. His reward? The cat bit him, and gave him the Bubonic Plague AKA Black Death. He was hospitalized, put in intensive care, and was on the verge of death. His family braced for the worst. Somehow he managed to pull out of the tailspin and survive, but lost his toes and fingers.  He may have gotten Black Death, but he deftly dodges Real Death.
All because of a freak accident while being a good Samaritan.
The New Jersey Superbug (*Warning* not a crime fighter)
Given the course the FFP has taken in the past few months, I have no idea how this story slipped past my beat reporters. In New Jersey, there is an anti-biotic resistant strain of bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
which has claimed the life of a small boy. He marks the 7th victim since last summer.
I wanted to add this to my Disease Countdown, but this technically is a case of rampant antibiotics causing dangerous mutations. This strain is so bad, that the hospital had to clear rooms, move walls, change piping, just to stop it from spreading! One person got it, they treated it with a super antibiotic, and during treatment the bacteria mutated to be resistant to that as well. This is seriously scary stuff.
Cover-ups are scary too. It seems that because the hospital is Federal, it doesn’t have to report its findings, and they aren’t required by law to contact the CDC! Turns out this Uber-Bacteria (copyright pending) has been around since last year, and has been claiming lives since then.
Again this is one of those infections that you don’t have to be afraid of unless you have a compromised immune system. Good thing all the crappy, genetically modifiedfood we are eating is working on that problem.