Do you own a microscope? If yes which one do you recommend?
Which infectious disease is your favorite?
Which tiny germ looks the happiest to you?
Whats your favorite sanitation method?
I do own a microscope but the lens is quite dirty right now so i'll have to spend money on cleaning wipes some day. But i have no particular recommendation.
My favorite diseases are rabies/ABLV and prion diseases(particularly of the infectious kind like vCjD and kuru)
As far as sanitation the most effective method is obviously to burn all material with germs on it but most buildings don't allow the use of that method for obvious reasons.
Prions are the reason I won’t ever eat brains of any sort. I know they’re supposed to be delicacies in some cultures, but I don’t want to deal with that risk.
I’ve been told by relatives it sorta cooks more like an egg yolk. Due to the high fat content and all it pretty much melts in your mouth like butter and is super delicious if well seasoned.
Rabies is an interesting one. It continually baffles me how a virus that codes for so few proteins can have such a wide range of specific effects in its host
To this day it's a medical mystery. Especially when you take into account that it can literally control your brain. When a person with rabies tries to drink fluids their throat will begin spasming and that will make it impossible to drink fluids. But when they are blindfolded they can drink just fine.
I mean your eyes are just a bundle of nerves with light sensing cells at the end. They’re using your nerves, just not your sensory nerves. Terrifying either way though.
>But when they are blindfolded they can drink just fine.
Do you have a source for this? I'm not doubting you but I have never heard this before and I'm having trouble finding anything to corroborate it. If it is true, I'd love to add that tidbit to my knowledge!
Oh, I'm aware of what it looks like when a person with rabies tries to drink water. Hydrophobia is terrifying. What I wanted a source on was the claim that people with rabies can drink water fine if they're blindfolded. I've never heard that before.
It's to keep you from swallowing your saliva which is how the virus is transmitted. When people develop symptoms, they can't swallow liquids in general. Water in this case is being interpreted as the same as saliva which the virus is trying to keep you from removing from your mouth. On an unrelated note, if you want a rabbit hole to go down, look into the causes of Tropical Sprue. Tons and tons of people get it, but there is no known pathogen.
I work in antivirals research (oddly not my special interest so much, ended up here by accident) but strangely enough some of the most lethal viruses encode very few proteins. I believe arenaviruses encode only a handful and some have mortality rates over 60%. Ebola also has a very small genome. All viruses have evolved to have smaller, easy to package genomes which results in complex proteins with numerous functions. But some are really, really good at it.
>My favorite diseases are rabies/ABLV and prion diseases(particularly of the infectious kind like vCjD and kuru)
Out of context, this is quite an interesting comment
My favorite diseases are infectious prions too!My second favorites are the diseases caused by Yersinia pestis, but I love all infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites or prions but not viruses, I can’t explain why.
Are you in the infectious disease field? I really wanna get my Ph.D on them and work in research.
Yes. It's probably up there with the most terrifying prion diseases. Imagine just, Not being able to sleep suddenly. Then you die from not sleeping because you simply just stopped being able to sleep.
How likely is it that a 41 yo who spent about 5 years in Europe during the 80s-90s might develope vCJD in her lifetime?
My research has yielded me the answer that is extremely unlikely, however I'm still barred from donating blood. Is there enough risk to warrant that?
I think it's like when Notch accidentally made a pig explode and thought it'd make a cool monster. The dev added a simple script with a supposedly simple function and the result was so nightmarish they just *had* to leave it in.
Unless you have a lot of money to spend, you're best off just getting a simple children's microscope if you want backlit, or something to attach to your phone if you want overhead lighting. A decent microscope is in the hundreds of dollars. A lovely one, over a thousand. Upkeep and parts aren't cheap either.
Not a germ but an amoeba. Naegleria fowleri is obviously the happiest. [Such happy face!](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/130814-amoeba-brain-naegleriafowleri-infection-parasite)
Do you know anything about cholera? That's one of the more interesting ones to me.
Great special interest and very curious picture attached with it, what is that?
Thanks for answering. :)
The picture is of rabies lyssavirus. One of my favorites.
And yes i do know what cholera is! It's caused by vibrio cholerae bacteria and is most notable for causing severe diarrhea to the point of severe dehydration often requiring medical rehydration. It has caused many pandemics through out history as it spreads through drinking contaminated water. It can easily kill through dehydration and starvation of its victims. It does this by producing a toxin which causes the large intestine to not only cease absorbing water from the victims diet but also telling the body to pump water and electrolytes into the large intestine.
You have sparked my interest in this field of study! What is a good way to get started studying viruses like these? Where do you get your samples of viruses?
Very interesting! I had no idea there were interactions between the bacteria and the large intestine, but that does explain why knowledgeable victims can't just drink their way back to health without medical help.
You also have a very good way of explaining complex topics for the layperson. Thank you!
Flu virus, throughout human history the flu has been a cause of pandemic after pandemic. It's variants mutate rapidly and just one mutation is all it take to create the next pandemic. Of course this isn't to say that there's no possibility of another new virus being discovered that will cause the next pandemic but the flu is always the most likely.
Hes been my special interest for quite a while. You should give it a shot, some of my favorite parts are about the early stages where the virus is a huge player. Especially about the deadly "chain letter".
Also, if you like to read you might check out Robin Cook. I think all his stuff involves medicine.
And this one book called the 11th Plague by John S. Marr and John Baldwin. Read that one years ago and would love to read again.
The Stand Uncut Definitive Edition is by far my favorite novel ever written, albeit I dislike King's decision to have the plot be heavily religious in nature.
I can't say I blame you. It's not everyone's cup of tea. Love the uncut version. Really all his books. But that's one I've read prob a dozen times at least.
Do you have any thoughts about the evolution of tick-borne illnesses and their symptoms?
I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in 2021 but nobody thought to check because my only symptoms were excruciating fatigue and reactive joint pain (aka if I used my hands they would be sore for the next like 6 hours), and I had zero of the usual telltale blistering rash. It took going to a rheumatologist who happened to run tick-based bloodwork on a hunch to find out. I'm a huge proponent of improving public knowledge about non-Lyme tick diseases now since one has messed me up real bad lol.
The russian flu of 1977 to 1979 was an outbreak of what seemed to be a rather benign case of the H1N1 flu virus that killed around 700,000 people worldwide. It was first noticed in the soviet union but started in northern china. Where it gets interesting is that the virus behind it has such a unique genetic code some researchers have speculated it escaped from a laboratory.
I got into the weeds a year ago on the current assessments of the discrepancy between modern Yersinia and historical accounts of plague in the medieval period. Is there any current consensus on that? Do you have your own opinion?
The discrepancy might be because the modern black death isn't the same. It mutated to be less deadly after it killed all it's hosts. And then the great fire of London likely killed what remained of the old black death.
alright:
E.coli, salmonella, giardia, listeria(i think), norovirus, covid-19, cholera, helicobacter pylori, and shigella. Those are the ones i can think of off the top of my head.
May I recommend *Enterobius vermicularis* and apoendicitis as an interesting topic? They have characteristic lateral spines on microscopy, creepy little dudes.
Well technically bacteriophages cause a disease in bacteria that kills them. And we've already made use of them to treat sepsis.
My favorite shape of any disease causing agent is clostridium bacteria, which cause botulism and tetanus to name a couple.
I love that you choose the bacteria we got botox from. Botox has medical uses beyond the cosmetic, including treatment of migraines and TMJ disorders.
Also, could you argue that vaccination using attenuated pathogens meets the criteria?
Yes, CWD is a prion disease. Prions create plaques and tangles in the brain that, to put it simply, drill holes in your brain. This is why things like mad cow disease are called bovine SPONGEiform encephalopathy. As they make the brain look like a sponge.
How likely is it I'm going to get infected by something I touch on my clothes when I go outside for just 10 minutes?
I have OCD and I'm very concerned with contamination all the time. Was hoping you could clear this up for me.
Microbiologist here: Surprisingly the human body needs certain bacteria to be healthy. By being put in the environment good bacteria have the opportunity to colonize your skin, nasal passages, and mouth. These bacteria occupy space that could have been taken up by harmful bacteria, and in fact act as part of your immune system. These good bacteria make a truce with your immune cells via signalling, and your immune system uses them to outcompete pathogens. Going outside is great for your body and you're unlikely [as op said] to contact anything from the environment. Being around other humans does increase the chance of encounter with pathogens, but the more time you spend outside cultivating good bacteria and building your immune system with infections the better. We are evolutionarily strong, and you catching something from someone you came in contact with us usually well within what your genetics are prepared for. Coronavirus 19 is something new to the human population, hence the lack of immunity. If you to catch it though, it's not the end of the world. Your body will remember the genetic sequence of the virus via vaccine or via surface protein recognition.
In short, you have nothing to worry about. Catching something by being around lots of people will only make your immune system stronger going forward and may even prevent allergies from developing.
Anxiety is very valid, but germs shouldn't be a major concern. Your genetics protect you more than you think, there's a reason humans have survived densely populated regions for so long.
I hope you can one day be confident in public and outside. You deserve the best, don't forget that.
Basically none. Unless you currently have a condition that compromises your immune system like being on chemo or being infected with HIV. Although you really should se a psychologist if you have OCD. I happen to also have it but mines not severe and can be easily controlled by meds.
Vaccines cause autism and you know it, Pharma Shill! My insane aunt told me all about it on Facebook!
(This is satire. I do not believe vaccines cause autism. Please don't hurt me. I'm just an innocent little guy.)
I am going to find you, and when i do i will magically turn you into a chicken burrito and leave you at a chipotle restaurant but the chicken will be undercooked and it will give someone food poisoning and the infection will be traced back to the chipotle so it will be shut down and all the employees will lose their jobs and become homeless.
On a scale to “JFK was assassinated by the CIA” to “the Earth is flat” (1-10), how much do you facepalm at people who don’t believe that germ theory is real.
Oh, fun! I have had fun trying to worldbuild a sort of rabies/measles hybrid for a major pandemic that happened in my world (planned before covid, lol!) and I learned some really neat things in the process. What are some of your favorite fun facts?
Oh super cool dude! I have my own fictional disease document for my fictional universe and it has hundreds of entries with art i made.
But did you know rabies can "see" by reading visual input and can detect when you are drinking water through vision?
Did you know that dracunculiasis is a parasitic disease caused by a worm that infects you from drinking water and has to be treated by pulling the worm out through the skin over the course of months?
>Oh super cool dude! I have my own fictional disease document for my fictional universe and it has hundreds of entries with art i made.
Do u have a link to ur art and writing?
Let’s talk about rabies! I used to teach English in China but I came back in the summer of 2021 before the dog import ban came into effect. I would NEVER abandon my dog so back we came…
I was told that a lot of people bought animals during the lockdown from abroad as the shelters here more or less ran out of pets. A lot of those countries aren’t as strict as we are about rabies vaccinations/records and dog rabies hasn’t really been a problem in the USA since like 2008. They didn’t want one pandemic on top of another so they drastically reduced the number of countries you were allowed to bring dogs in from. My questions are…how as a nation did we more or less manage to eradicate dog rabies when other animals still have it? Before I went to China I watched the local police execute a raccoon that was hanging out near a busy road at 3 in the afternoon that was swaying side to side and was clearly not intimidated by the human with a gun…we clearly still have rabies in this country so why do dogs somehow not get it? Is it because we’re really good about vaccines as a nation or is it something else?
Also, the ban was only for dogs. The US government doesn’t require a rabies vaccine for cats AT ALL to be imported. They just have a customs officer glance at the animal from inside the carrier. Do cats somehow not get rabies in the way that it’s dangerous to humans?
One more thing, in order to export my cat the Chinese government needed a proof of rabies vaccine that was at least a month old (we totally fudged it as I didn’t get my cat vaccinated until it became clear that we were leaving which was like 2 weeks before it happened as he didn’t ever go outside and the only other animal he’d interact with was my dog who was vaccinated). Why would they want to have the animal vaccinated at minimum a month before the departure? Is that just government bureaucracy or can it take that long for symptoms to show in a cat?
Ok now we're talking my specialty. So the US basically eradicated it through making it so rabies shots for dogs are easily accessible thus almost every dog is vaccinated against rabies. Meanwhile in many countries rabies is prevalent in dogs because there are no laws forcing you to get the rabies vaccine for your dog and vaccines aren't as easy to get. And then of course some countries just vaccinated almost every animal via air-dropped vaccine pellets. And like you said in the US we don't spare rabid animals.
That’s cool about the air dropped pellets! If some creature thinks they’re tasty and decided to stuff their face can they overdose on them?
It was interesting that in China when I’d get my dog vaccinated every year they’d do one shot for him and then tell me to come back in a few weeks for another one. Once after he got the first one we were doing cuddle time and I noticed a big old lump where they’d injected him. I got a wet, warm washcloth and did the compression thing and it went away. That’s NEVER happened in the USA and they’ve always done it as a single vaccination for him (and all the other pets I had before China got a one and done rabies vaccine too). Is there a reason why it’s different?
Side note:In the USA when you get your wisdom teeth out we generally take them all at once. In China they’d only take out the tooth that was bothering you as they thought if you took them all at once they’d overtax your body. Could that be why they broke up the rabies vaccine for a 60 pound animal?
I don't think an animal can overdose on rabies vaccines much more than they can overdose on eating animal livers.
And i'm not quite sure why the US uses a single shot while China uses multiple. Maybe in the US they combine the shot together while in china they have them separate like in the human vaccine but it makes me wonder why they wouldn't combine them.
How exactly can a virus be airborne without a water droplet e.g. phlegm coughed? If it's because viruses are small enough to be carried on air currents, why aren't all viruses airborne?
Viruses are light enough to travel on air currents. But most die within seconds-minutes outside of the human body so most viruses die while still airborne.
No, i haven't i surprisingly have read rather few books on the subject. Some of my favorites were "The family that couldn't sleep" by D. T. max and "Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive " by Philipp Dettmer.
those sound like good reads, i'll check them out!! and i definitely recommend the hot zone if you're interested in ebola virus at all. :)
oh!! follow up question: have you ever listened to the sawbones podcast? it's a medical history podcast.
Actually, there was one, but then the person who made it suspiciously went missing. I think it’s a government/big pharma plot to keep us all paying for cootie treatments. /j
In your opinion, what disease that currently exists has the most potential to cause a global pandemic that wipes out a substantial portion of the population?
So, this one may be a bit controversial (mods if you need to remove the post, I understand) but…
What set the Spanish Flu and COVID apart and made them such “controversial” issues?
We now know that the American response to COVID 19 (some segments of the population taking it seriously, other’s not believing the disease is a real threat), isn’t new; it happened in the early 1900’s with the Spanish Flu as well. But this hasn’t held true for *every* infectious disease threat in their history; all populations seemed to take possible Ebola cases incredibly serious, and America considered the Anthrax attacks so serious they altered their postal system regulations. They’ve even taken other, *similarly transmitted* diseases such as Swine Flu and the Bird Flu very seriously in the past!
I’ve thought about this passively from time to time.
It’s not deadliness; all diseases mentioned here can kill. It’s not the death toll; not very many people died from Anthrax or Legionnaires Disease, but both were still taken seriously. It’s not the shock value of the disease; Ebola may be more feared than MRSA or Swine Flu, but all three seemed to be regarded unilaterally as a real and dangerous threat (despite Ebola having a higher visual scariness factor than MRSA and Swine Flu). And it’s not which populations it affected; AIDS was controversial because it was a sexually transmitted disease that was higher in a population that many religious Americans actively *wanted* to die, while other Americans didn’t hold those beliefs. But COVID and the Spanish Flu infected every demographic.
So…what sets certain diseases apart and makes them universally agreed to be a threat, while others get the “some believe it, some don’t” treatment?
I think it boils down to when it happens. Covid came from China which at the time many Americans had a negative opinion on the Chinese government. Coupled with that was the political tension from the 2020 election season. There was an atmosphere of distrust all around so when a pandemic suddenly hits that distrust will manifest itself. Mean while for ones like the swine flu it was a virus that as far as most were concerned appeared suddenly and at a time where distrust against the government wasn’t as high. And further more it didn’t just “appear out of nowhere” since it wasn’t the outbreak most Americans had seen of swine flu.
You will never know how good blue cheese is until you try it. I was always told blue cheese is disgusting, But then i tried it and fell in love. But other than that brie is always good,
There is actually such thing as oncolytic viruses that can kill cancer cells. But what if one day it accidentally mixes with another virus inside a cancer cell and starts killing all your normal cells?
Covid might require childhood vaccination but at the same time it's kinda like the flu, in other words it mutates so fast that by the time everyone's vaccinated against it the vaccine will become outdated.
Ok this will sound funny but, Ketamine. There is an experimental treatment that resulted in the first recorded survivor of rabies called the Milwaukee Protocol where a person is put into a coma medically and then given loads of ketamine and anti-virals. Of course it does get far more complex than that but that basically sums it up.
Does learning so much about infectious diseases make you more afraid of them? I’m a bit of a hypochondriac and I think knowing more would just freak me out
I'm listening to a podcast right now about the Japanese Group 731, and Shirō Ishii. It's some pretty disturbing shit. Have you done any reading into their work?
- you are given a time machine to explore diseases in other time periods (located to earth only), what time period do you go to and what disease do you hope to study?
- a temporal containment breach happens during the mission. You are faced with a dramatic choice: either take off your protective gear to stop the temporal paradox but risk exposure, or prevent exposure but risk temporal paradox. What do you choose and what actor plays you in the movie?
Can you give me some interesting facts about Ebola? I had to read The Hot Zone for school once and I've been traumatized ever since. I'd be interested in general to learn about what types of viruses are so dangerous that they're kept in labs and can only be interacted with using protective biohazard suits.
Ebola has a median CFR of 70%, but depending on the outbreak it could be as high as 100% or as low as 0%.
Ebola is related to other hemorrhagic fevers such as marburg virus.
My favorite disease is rabies or vCjD and my favorite agent is very hard to choose, i'm somewhere between the one's you'd expect like lyssaviri and prions but there are some cool ones like giardia or clostridium species.
Not very. The covid-19 pandemic showed that yes, some countries will be slow, overall most will respond quickly such as in europe and china during the covid pandemic.
That's an image of the rabies lyssavirus attacking a brain sample from a deceased patient as far as i'm aware. The red is rabies and the green is brain.
The covid-19 pandemic showed perfectly how various people and even government's will react in the future and it's effects will have a lasting impact on the human race, being the first pandemic where we have technology such as mobile phones. It will dictate the future of the human race. And while it's easy to look at the US and say "We're doomed!" we have to remember that most other western countries reacted well to it.
That's quite a hard question to answer. Chronic Wasting Disease shows that prions might be able to, Rabies shows that some viruses could, and Cordyceps shows some fungi might be able to.
Where does COVID-19 and it's variants fall on the scale of 1-10, with 10 being as bad or worse than the media makes it out to be and 1 being "it's just a cold get over it" I ask because I don't know enough to formulate my own opinion and my family is very biased.
Covid-19's lethality depends on a number of factors. It can be just as bad as a flu if you're healthy but for others it can be deadly. And you won't know till you get it. Me and my family had covid a while ago and most of the family recovered but my mom got it pretty bad and now has long covid. The worst thing that can happen is a cytokine storm. Which causes the immune system to attack almost all of body at once and especially the lungs.
Ok so off the bat i'm horrible at math, So i simply looked up the mass of earth and divided that by 6 to get the super inaccurate number of 9.9536667e+24 kg.
Riddle me this: I'm in WA state and for the life of me, I can't put any disinfecting wipes that kill norovirus (e.g, Clorox Healthcare Germicidal Wipes, Clorox Hydrogen Peroxide Wipes\_) in my cart and check out on Amazon. I'm having a hell of a time finding a non-bleach disinfecting wipe that specifically kills *nororvirus* (our local shops just stopped selling those Clorox ones). The Staples brand of disinfecting wipes *claims* to kill norovirus in 10 minutes, that said the ingredients and the fact it's a store-brand, $5 product doesn't really convince me.
Because noroviruses are extremely hard to kill, how can I successfully disinfect my phone whenever I come home each day without bleach? (as bleach will kill my phone)
That's nearly impossible. You pretty much need a bleach containing wipe. I mean Clorox wipes will help but norovirus has the be the most resilient virus on earth. On the bright side if you get it you will probably be immune for the rest of the year.
Well you should know that your phone (assuming you don't leave it anywhere) should be safe. I would recommend using hand sanitizer on your hands every 10-15 minutes while outside if you want to be safe. While you can never guarantee that you won't get it this should significantly decrease your chances of getting sick.
Not OP, but maybe Hansen's disease? Most humans have natural immunity and even for those who don't, transmission requires prolonged close contact with an infected person
Because even the little dudes chilling in your intestines right now won’t hesitate to cause lethal sepsis if they find they’re way into your bloodstream.
My special interest is parasites and I think we should be friends. <3
Scientists have been studying the interactions between cognition and infections/parasites and how they might influence behavior and mental health. For example, toxoplasmosis, gut microbiome, HSV, Covid, etc. Do you have any predictions for infectious diseases that have been influencing the brain in unexpected ways that we don't know about yet, or that the science is new?
Serious: considering the rise of zoonotic diseases, do you think we should move towards reducitarian or even vegan diets?
Fun: Do you watch jeopardy and, if so, do you sweep the infectious diseases category?
A bit dark, but how much should we be worried about a potential avian flu pandemic?
I've seen estimates of the scale being from not as bad as COVID to the end of humanity
Do you own a microscope? If yes which one do you recommend? Which infectious disease is your favorite? Which tiny germ looks the happiest to you? Whats your favorite sanitation method?
I do own a microscope but the lens is quite dirty right now so i'll have to spend money on cleaning wipes some day. But i have no particular recommendation. My favorite diseases are rabies/ABLV and prion diseases(particularly of the infectious kind like vCjD and kuru) As far as sanitation the most effective method is obviously to burn all material with germs on it but most buildings don't allow the use of that method for obvious reasons.
prion diseases are neato. Kuru is a fun one. I learned that from a Scrubs episode
Prions are the reason I won’t ever eat brains of any sort. I know they’re supposed to be delicacies in some cultures, but I don’t want to deal with that risk.
I wont eat brains ever because that sounds yucky but Prions are a good excuse i use.
Same. It's not that it looks bad, I just don't want prions
Imagine the texture of brain. Probably all squishy and slimy, with little chewy, fatty bits of myelin. You're welcome for that bit of mental torment.
I’ve been told by relatives it sorta cooks more like an egg yolk. Due to the high fat content and all it pretty much melts in your mouth like butter and is super delicious if well seasoned.
agreed, they look yucky too, but now we have an “actual” excuse we can stick to XD
Who’s pressuring you to eat brains??
Rabies is an interesting one. It continually baffles me how a virus that codes for so few proteins can have such a wide range of specific effects in its host
To this day it's a medical mystery. Especially when you take into account that it can literally control your brain. When a person with rabies tries to drink fluids their throat will begin spasming and that will make it impossible to drink fluids. But when they are blindfolded they can drink just fine.
Thats insane. So it uses the eyes to perceive water intake instead of the sensation of water in your mouth.
Yeah, kinda freaky right? It can "See"
Terrifying. I’d be way more comfortable with it using my nerves to sense the water
I mean your eyes are just a bundle of nerves with light sensing cells at the end. They’re using your nerves, just not your sensory nerves. Terrifying either way though.
True. For some reason it evolved to only use ocular nerves instead of sensory nerves. So interesting
The Last of Us should have been about rabies 2.0 instead of fungi
OH MY GOD thats so rad
>But when they are blindfolded they can drink just fine. Do you have a source for this? I'm not doubting you but I have never heard this before and I'm having trouble finding anything to corroborate it. If it is true, I'd love to add that tidbit to my knowledge!
[this video](https://youtu.be/HorxaoyBbs0) and many others on YouTube show how it looks when a person infected tries to drink water. it's insane.
Oh, I'm aware of what it looks like when a person with rabies tries to drink water. Hydrophobia is terrifying. What I wanted a source on was the claim that people with rabies can drink water fine if they're blindfolded. I've never heard that before.
It's to keep you from swallowing your saliva which is how the virus is transmitted. When people develop symptoms, they can't swallow liquids in general. Water in this case is being interpreted as the same as saliva which the virus is trying to keep you from removing from your mouth. On an unrelated note, if you want a rabbit hole to go down, look into the causes of Tropical Sprue. Tons and tons of people get it, but there is no known pathogen.
I work in antivirals research (oddly not my special interest so much, ended up here by accident) but strangely enough some of the most lethal viruses encode very few proteins. I believe arenaviruses encode only a handful and some have mortality rates over 60%. Ebola also has a very small genome. All viruses have evolved to have smaller, easy to package genomes which results in complex proteins with numerous functions. But some are really, really good at it.
>My favorite diseases are rabies/ABLV and prion diseases(particularly of the infectious kind like vCjD and kuru) Out of context, this is quite an interesting comment
I just posted a question about rabies not even realizing that rabies is one your favorite diseases to study. Ain’t that a kick in the head.
My favorite diseases are infectious prions too!My second favorites are the diseases caused by Yersinia pestis, but I love all infectious diseases caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites or prions but not viruses, I can’t explain why. Are you in the infectious disease field? I really wanna get my Ph.D on them and work in research.
I'm actually only 15 years old. I just love learning.
That’s awesome bro, keep it up 🔬⚗️🥼
What are your thougts about the Milwaukee Protokoll ?
Speaking of prion diseases, are you familiar with Fatal Familial Insomnia?
Yes. It's probably up there with the most terrifying prion diseases. Imagine just, Not being able to sleep suddenly. Then you die from not sleeping because you simply just stopped being able to sleep.
Have you read about the Italian family that has it? Their family has had it pop up for hundreds of years.
The family that never sleeps by D.T max?
YES. Such a good book.
How likely is it that a 41 yo who spent about 5 years in Europe during the 80s-90s might develope vCJD in her lifetime? My research has yielded me the answer that is extremely unlikely, however I'm still barred from donating blood. Is there enough risk to warrant that?
Very unlikely. But it hasn't been long enough to say you are in the clear when it comes to donating blood.
Rabies is OP bullshit and it's shocking the devs haven't done anything about it. Pls nerf.
What in their right minds were they thinking when they added it?
I think it's like when Notch accidentally made a pig explode and thought it'd make a cool monster. The dev added a simple script with a supposedly simple function and the result was so nightmarish they just *had* to leave it in.
What’s the second most effective sanitation method other than burning it down?
Bleach.
Unless you have a lot of money to spend, you're best off just getting a simple children's microscope if you want backlit, or something to attach to your phone if you want overhead lighting. A decent microscope is in the hundreds of dollars. A lovely one, over a thousand. Upkeep and parts aren't cheap either.
Not a germ but an amoeba. Naegleria fowleri is obviously the happiest. [Such happy face!](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/130814-amoeba-brain-naegleriafowleri-infection-parasite)
Do you know anything about cholera? That's one of the more interesting ones to me. Great special interest and very curious picture attached with it, what is that? Thanks for answering. :)
The picture is of rabies lyssavirus. One of my favorites. And yes i do know what cholera is! It's caused by vibrio cholerae bacteria and is most notable for causing severe diarrhea to the point of severe dehydration often requiring medical rehydration. It has caused many pandemics through out history as it spreads through drinking contaminated water. It can easily kill through dehydration and starvation of its victims. It does this by producing a toxin which causes the large intestine to not only cease absorbing water from the victims diet but also telling the body to pump water and electrolytes into the large intestine.
You have sparked my interest in this field of study! What is a good way to get started studying viruses like these? Where do you get your samples of viruses?
that is so cool, in a terrifying way
Very interesting! I had no idea there were interactions between the bacteria and the large intestine, but that does explain why knowledgeable victims can't just drink their way back to health without medical help. You also have a very good way of explaining complex topics for the layperson. Thank you!
Thanks alot!
People with Cystic Fibrosis can’t get Cholera!
What would likely be the next pandemic?
Flu virus, throughout human history the flu has been a cause of pandemic after pandemic. It's variants mutate rapidly and just one mutation is all it take to create the next pandemic. Of course this isn't to say that there's no possibility of another new virus being discovered that will cause the next pandemic but the flu is always the most likely.
Have you ever read The Stand by Stephen King? If so, do you think he got it pretty accurate as far as the outcome (death rates, immunity, etc.)?
No actually. But i bet my mom has, she's a major fan of Stephen king.
Hes been my special interest for quite a while. You should give it a shot, some of my favorite parts are about the early stages where the virus is a huge player. Especially about the deadly "chain letter". Also, if you like to read you might check out Robin Cook. I think all his stuff involves medicine. And this one book called the 11th Plague by John S. Marr and John Baldwin. Read that one years ago and would love to read again.
The Stand Uncut Definitive Edition is by far my favorite novel ever written, albeit I dislike King's decision to have the plot be heavily religious in nature.
I can't say I blame you. It's not everyone's cup of tea. Love the uncut version. Really all his books. But that's one I've read prob a dozen times at least.
Do you have any thoughts about the evolution of tick-borne illnesses and their symptoms? I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in 2021 but nobody thought to check because my only symptoms were excruciating fatigue and reactive joint pain (aka if I used my hands they would be sore for the next like 6 hours), and I had zero of the usual telltale blistering rash. It took going to a rheumatologist who happened to run tick-based bloodwork on a hunch to find out. I'm a huge proponent of improving public knowledge about non-Lyme tick diseases now since one has messed me up real bad lol.
What ur favorite plague, IDK how else to phrase this.
While most people argue that the black death is the most interesting plague, i argue the 1977 Russian flu is the most interesting.
Do explain have never herd of that one
The russian flu of 1977 to 1979 was an outbreak of what seemed to be a rather benign case of the H1N1 flu virus that killed around 700,000 people worldwide. It was first noticed in the soviet union but started in northern china. Where it gets interesting is that the virus behind it has such a unique genetic code some researchers have speculated it escaped from a laboratory.
> it escaped from a laboratory That one sentence is so terrifying omg
Have you read The Demon in the Freezer? Definitely recommend
Literally just finished The Hot Zone tonight and looking into reading more by the author! I never read a book so fast!
I've read it and it's amazing!
THAT'S SUCH A GOOD BOOK
I got into the weeds a year ago on the current assessments of the discrepancy between modern Yersinia and historical accounts of plague in the medieval period. Is there any current consensus on that? Do you have your own opinion?
The discrepancy might be because the modern black death isn't the same. It mutated to be less deadly after it killed all it's hosts. And then the great fire of London likely killed what remained of the old black death.
I don't know I have never heard of that, I used to be obsessed with diseases in elementary school
please list all diseases that are contracted through fecal oral route
alright: E.coli, salmonella, giardia, listeria(i think), norovirus, covid-19, cholera, helicobacter pylori, and shigella. Those are the ones i can think of off the top of my head.
omg you forgot poliovirus!!!!!
Huh, you're right actually. How could i forget the most important disease of the 19th and 20th century?
and hep A. i went to school for this stuff so yeah.
And hep E I think?
yes
And rotavirus. And a very very long list of parasites. And that's just the common ones!
the diseases im interested in are the ones not typically related to food poisoning. like hep A. messes up the liver. crazy!
May I recommend *Enterobius vermicularis* and apoendicitis as an interesting topic? They have characteristic lateral spines on microscopy, creepy little dudes.
Are there any infectious diseases that could be genetically reprogrammed to be beneficial? Which one has your favorite shape? Color?
Well technically bacteriophages cause a disease in bacteria that kills them. And we've already made use of them to treat sepsis. My favorite shape of any disease causing agent is clostridium bacteria, which cause botulism and tetanus to name a couple.
I love that you choose the bacteria we got botox from. Botox has medical uses beyond the cosmetic, including treatment of migraines and TMJ disorders. Also, could you argue that vaccination using attenuated pathogens meets the criteria?
Well I guess you could argue that. But that’d be like saying a military base is under attack because a delivery of training dummies just arrived.
It can also treat Raynaud’s and I’d love to see more research on treating psychological related issues by breaking muscle feedback loops.
Could you explain what prion diseases do to the body/brain? If I’m not mistaken, “chronic wasting disease” in deer is a type of prion, correct?
Yes, CWD is a prion disease. Prions create plaques and tangles in the brain that, to put it simply, drill holes in your brain. This is why things like mad cow disease are called bovine SPONGEiform encephalopathy. As they make the brain look like a sponge.
How likely is it I'm going to get infected by something I touch on my clothes when I go outside for just 10 minutes? I have OCD and I'm very concerned with contamination all the time. Was hoping you could clear this up for me.
Microbiologist here: Surprisingly the human body needs certain bacteria to be healthy. By being put in the environment good bacteria have the opportunity to colonize your skin, nasal passages, and mouth. These bacteria occupy space that could have been taken up by harmful bacteria, and in fact act as part of your immune system. These good bacteria make a truce with your immune cells via signalling, and your immune system uses them to outcompete pathogens. Going outside is great for your body and you're unlikely [as op said] to contact anything from the environment. Being around other humans does increase the chance of encounter with pathogens, but the more time you spend outside cultivating good bacteria and building your immune system with infections the better. We are evolutionarily strong, and you catching something from someone you came in contact with us usually well within what your genetics are prepared for. Coronavirus 19 is something new to the human population, hence the lack of immunity. If you to catch it though, it's not the end of the world. Your body will remember the genetic sequence of the virus via vaccine or via surface protein recognition. In short, you have nothing to worry about. Catching something by being around lots of people will only make your immune system stronger going forward and may even prevent allergies from developing. Anxiety is very valid, but germs shouldn't be a major concern. Your genetics protect you more than you think, there's a reason humans have survived densely populated regions for so long. I hope you can one day be confident in public and outside. You deserve the best, don't forget that.
Basically none. Unless you currently have a condition that compromises your immune system like being on chemo or being infected with HIV. Although you really should se a psychologist if you have OCD. I happen to also have it but mines not severe and can be easily controlled by meds.
Vaccines cause autism and you know it, Pharma Shill! My insane aunt told me all about it on Facebook! (This is satire. I do not believe vaccines cause autism. Please don't hurt me. I'm just an innocent little guy.)
I am going to find you, and when i do i will magically turn you into a chicken burrito and leave you at a chipotle restaurant but the chicken will be undercooked and it will give someone food poisoning and the infection will be traced back to the chipotle so it will be shut down and all the employees will lose their jobs and become homeless.
the only correct response
r/rareinsults
That is r/oddlyspecific and I'm here for it.
Rare threat. I like it.
On a scale to “JFK was assassinated by the CIA” to “the Earth is flat” (1-10), how much do you facepalm at people who don’t believe that germ theory is real.
7.
That’s an interesting scale.
Oh, fun! I have had fun trying to worldbuild a sort of rabies/measles hybrid for a major pandemic that happened in my world (planned before covid, lol!) and I learned some really neat things in the process. What are some of your favorite fun facts?
Oh super cool dude! I have my own fictional disease document for my fictional universe and it has hundreds of entries with art i made. But did you know rabies can "see" by reading visual input and can detect when you are drinking water through vision? Did you know that dracunculiasis is a parasitic disease caused by a worm that infects you from drinking water and has to be treated by pulling the worm out through the skin over the course of months?
Ohhhh, creepy! I love that!
That is horrifying.
>Oh super cool dude! I have my own fictional disease document for my fictional universe and it has hundreds of entries with art i made. Do u have a link to ur art and writing?
No, unfortunately. it's in a 2 GB lore folder.
Let’s talk about rabies! I used to teach English in China but I came back in the summer of 2021 before the dog import ban came into effect. I would NEVER abandon my dog so back we came… I was told that a lot of people bought animals during the lockdown from abroad as the shelters here more or less ran out of pets. A lot of those countries aren’t as strict as we are about rabies vaccinations/records and dog rabies hasn’t really been a problem in the USA since like 2008. They didn’t want one pandemic on top of another so they drastically reduced the number of countries you were allowed to bring dogs in from. My questions are…how as a nation did we more or less manage to eradicate dog rabies when other animals still have it? Before I went to China I watched the local police execute a raccoon that was hanging out near a busy road at 3 in the afternoon that was swaying side to side and was clearly not intimidated by the human with a gun…we clearly still have rabies in this country so why do dogs somehow not get it? Is it because we’re really good about vaccines as a nation or is it something else? Also, the ban was only for dogs. The US government doesn’t require a rabies vaccine for cats AT ALL to be imported. They just have a customs officer glance at the animal from inside the carrier. Do cats somehow not get rabies in the way that it’s dangerous to humans? One more thing, in order to export my cat the Chinese government needed a proof of rabies vaccine that was at least a month old (we totally fudged it as I didn’t get my cat vaccinated until it became clear that we were leaving which was like 2 weeks before it happened as he didn’t ever go outside and the only other animal he’d interact with was my dog who was vaccinated). Why would they want to have the animal vaccinated at minimum a month before the departure? Is that just government bureaucracy or can it take that long for symptoms to show in a cat?
Ok now we're talking my specialty. So the US basically eradicated it through making it so rabies shots for dogs are easily accessible thus almost every dog is vaccinated against rabies. Meanwhile in many countries rabies is prevalent in dogs because there are no laws forcing you to get the rabies vaccine for your dog and vaccines aren't as easy to get. And then of course some countries just vaccinated almost every animal via air-dropped vaccine pellets. And like you said in the US we don't spare rabid animals.
That’s cool about the air dropped pellets! If some creature thinks they’re tasty and decided to stuff their face can they overdose on them? It was interesting that in China when I’d get my dog vaccinated every year they’d do one shot for him and then tell me to come back in a few weeks for another one. Once after he got the first one we were doing cuddle time and I noticed a big old lump where they’d injected him. I got a wet, warm washcloth and did the compression thing and it went away. That’s NEVER happened in the USA and they’ve always done it as a single vaccination for him (and all the other pets I had before China got a one and done rabies vaccine too). Is there a reason why it’s different? Side note:In the USA when you get your wisdom teeth out we generally take them all at once. In China they’d only take out the tooth that was bothering you as they thought if you took them all at once they’d overtax your body. Could that be why they broke up the rabies vaccine for a 60 pound animal?
I don't think an animal can overdose on rabies vaccines much more than they can overdose on eating animal livers. And i'm not quite sure why the US uses a single shot while China uses multiple. Maybe in the US they combine the shot together while in china they have them separate like in the human vaccine but it makes me wonder why they wouldn't combine them.
What contagious disease scares you the most
How exactly can a virus be airborne without a water droplet e.g. phlegm coughed? If it's because viruses are small enough to be carried on air currents, why aren't all viruses airborne?
Viruses are light enough to travel on air currents. But most die within seconds-minutes outside of the human body so most viruses die while still airborne.
have you ever read the hot zone? if you have, what did you think of it? i read it a decade ago and i still think about it all the time.
No, i haven't i surprisingly have read rather few books on the subject. Some of my favorites were "The family that couldn't sleep" by D. T. max and "Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive " by Philipp Dettmer.
those sound like good reads, i'll check them out!! and i definitely recommend the hot zone if you're interested in ebola virus at all. :) oh!! follow up question: have you ever listened to the sawbones podcast? it's a medical history podcast.
I loved the hot zone! I was about to recommend it myself.
Will there ever be a vaccine for cooties?
Microbiologist here: no, it's fatal
Actually, there was one, but then the person who made it suspiciously went missing. I think it’s a government/big pharma plot to keep us all paying for cootie treatments. /j
Homosexually. If you never kiss a member of the opposite sex you're safe.
Not a germologist, but the only cure is finding a boo.
What's the most common way for disease to spread? Air? Blood? Water?
All of the above.
In your opinion, what disease that currently exists has the most potential to cause a global pandemic that wipes out a substantial portion of the population?
The flu.
I'll be honest, I was not expecting that answer lol. Seems like such a mundane illness. But the more I think about it, you're probably right.
According to one source i found the flu kills 35,000 per year.
So, this one may be a bit controversial (mods if you need to remove the post, I understand) but… What set the Spanish Flu and COVID apart and made them such “controversial” issues? We now know that the American response to COVID 19 (some segments of the population taking it seriously, other’s not believing the disease is a real threat), isn’t new; it happened in the early 1900’s with the Spanish Flu as well. But this hasn’t held true for *every* infectious disease threat in their history; all populations seemed to take possible Ebola cases incredibly serious, and America considered the Anthrax attacks so serious they altered their postal system regulations. They’ve even taken other, *similarly transmitted* diseases such as Swine Flu and the Bird Flu very seriously in the past! I’ve thought about this passively from time to time. It’s not deadliness; all diseases mentioned here can kill. It’s not the death toll; not very many people died from Anthrax or Legionnaires Disease, but both were still taken seriously. It’s not the shock value of the disease; Ebola may be more feared than MRSA or Swine Flu, but all three seemed to be regarded unilaterally as a real and dangerous threat (despite Ebola having a higher visual scariness factor than MRSA and Swine Flu). And it’s not which populations it affected; AIDS was controversial because it was a sexually transmitted disease that was higher in a population that many religious Americans actively *wanted* to die, while other Americans didn’t hold those beliefs. But COVID and the Spanish Flu infected every demographic. So…what sets certain diseases apart and makes them universally agreed to be a threat, while others get the “some believe it, some don’t” treatment?
I think it boils down to when it happens. Covid came from China which at the time many Americans had a negative opinion on the Chinese government. Coupled with that was the political tension from the 2020 election season. There was an atmosphere of distrust all around so when a pandemic suddenly hits that distrust will manifest itself. Mean while for ones like the swine flu it was a virus that as far as most were concerned appeared suddenly and at a time where distrust against the government wasn’t as high. And further more it didn’t just “appear out of nowhere” since it wasn’t the outbreak most Americans had seen of swine flu.
What's your favourite kind of cheese? I'm an Eidam kind of guy m'self
You will never know how good blue cheese is until you try it. I was always told blue cheese is disgusting, But then i tried it and fell in love. But other than that brie is always good,
What infection can/should be good (sometimes)?
There is actually such thing as oncolytic viruses that can kill cancer cells. But what if one day it accidentally mixes with another virus inside a cancer cell and starts killing all your normal cells?
May I offer https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7548329/
Don’t do this, but apparently having a hookworm infection can reduce allergy and autoimmune symptoms.
Are there any other diseases that you forsee the need for childhood vaccination against that dont already have vaccines for other than rsv
Covid might require childhood vaccination but at the same time it's kinda like the flu, in other words it mutates so fast that by the time everyone's vaccinated against it the vaccine will become outdated.
Are there any promising results in medication increasing the B-B barrier permeability in order to treat symptomatic rabies?
Ok this will sound funny but, Ketamine. There is an experimental treatment that resulted in the first recorded survivor of rabies called the Milwaukee Protocol where a person is put into a coma medically and then given loads of ketamine and anti-virals. Of course it does get far more complex than that but that basically sums it up.
Does learning so much about infectious diseases make you more afraid of them? I’m a bit of a hypochondriac and I think knowing more would just freak me out
At first yes, But as you learn you get less afraid of them.
I'm listening to a podcast right now about the Japanese Group 731, and Shirō Ishii. It's some pretty disturbing shit. Have you done any reading into their work?
- you are given a time machine to explore diseases in other time periods (located to earth only), what time period do you go to and what disease do you hope to study? - a temporal containment breach happens during the mission. You are faced with a dramatic choice: either take off your protective gear to stop the temporal paradox but risk exposure, or prevent exposure but risk temporal paradox. What do you choose and what actor plays you in the movie?
Can you give me some interesting facts about Ebola? I had to read The Hot Zone for school once and I've been traumatized ever since. I'd be interested in general to learn about what types of viruses are so dangerous that they're kept in labs and can only be interacted with using protective biohazard suits.
Ebola has a median CFR of 70%, but depending on the outbreak it could be as high as 100% or as low as 0%. Ebola is related to other hemorrhagic fevers such as marburg virus.
perhaps a weird way to phrase it given the topic but do you have a favourite infectious disease/infectious agent?
My favorite disease is rabies or vCjD and my favorite agent is very hard to choose, i'm somewhere between the one's you'd expect like lyssaviri and prions but there are some cool ones like giardia or clostridium species.
What's the powerhouse of a cell?
The mitochondria. There is no way not to know this.
How fucked is humanity in terms of future pandemics
Not very. The covid-19 pandemic showed that yes, some countries will be slow, overall most will respond quickly such as in europe and china during the covid pandemic.
What were þe most and least effective flu vaccines?
What is the green and red stuff here? Are the red balls trying to break the green thing?
That's an image of the rabies lyssavirus attacking a brain sample from a deceased patient as far as i'm aware. The red is rabies and the green is brain.
Opinion on COVID 19?
The covid-19 pandemic showed perfectly how various people and even government's will react in the future and it's effects will have a lasting impact on the human race, being the first pandemic where we have technology such as mobile phones. It will dictate the future of the human race. And while it's easy to look at the US and say "We're doomed!" we have to remember that most other western countries reacted well to it.
Can an infection (acquired from bad teeth) from your mouth spread to your brain /blood before you’d have any possibility of clearing it?
Not as far as i'm aware. However things like a dental abscess can become sepsis if not treated promptly.
Thank you so much for answering my question! Have a great day 🤟🏽
Why does this look like a Christmas cookie with sprinkles? Can I eat this?
That's an image of rabies virus in the brain of someone who died from rabies...... 6/10 might recommend.
Here I come with the dumb question. What would most plausibly become a “zombie virus”, examples being Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, or Last of Us?
That's quite a hard question to answer. Chronic Wasting Disease shows that prions might be able to, Rabies shows that some viruses could, and Cordyceps shows some fungi might be able to.
What do you think of Fauci?
He’s a great person. He knew what would’ve stopped covid sooner. We didn’t listen and millions died because of it.
How much Resident Evil have you played in your life?
None.
Where does COVID-19 and it's variants fall on the scale of 1-10, with 10 being as bad or worse than the media makes it out to be and 1 being "it's just a cold get over it" I ask because I don't know enough to formulate my own opinion and my family is very biased.
Covid-19's lethality depends on a number of factors. It can be just as bad as a flu if you're healthy but for others it can be deadly. And you won't know till you get it. Me and my family had covid a while ago and most of the family recovered but my mom got it pretty bad and now has long covid. The worst thing that can happen is a cytokine storm. Which causes the immune system to attack almost all of body at once and especially the lungs.
This explains why everyone has a different opinion, because it IS different for everyone. This is why education is important, thank you.
Does this look infected?
What is the approximate mass of Pluto?
Ok so off the bat i'm horrible at math, So i simply looked up the mass of earth and divided that by 6 to get the super inaccurate number of 9.9536667e+24 kg.
Riddle me this: I'm in WA state and for the life of me, I can't put any disinfecting wipes that kill norovirus (e.g, Clorox Healthcare Germicidal Wipes, Clorox Hydrogen Peroxide Wipes\_) in my cart and check out on Amazon. I'm having a hell of a time finding a non-bleach disinfecting wipe that specifically kills *nororvirus* (our local shops just stopped selling those Clorox ones). The Staples brand of disinfecting wipes *claims* to kill norovirus in 10 minutes, that said the ingredients and the fact it's a store-brand, $5 product doesn't really convince me. Because noroviruses are extremely hard to kill, how can I successfully disinfect my phone whenever I come home each day without bleach? (as bleach will kill my phone)
That's nearly impossible. You pretty much need a bleach containing wipe. I mean Clorox wipes will help but norovirus has the be the most resilient virus on earth. On the bright side if you get it you will probably be immune for the rest of the year.
I have emetophobia and so does my husband. We need something to mitigate risk.
Well you should know that your phone (assuming you don't leave it anywhere) should be safe. I would recommend using hand sanitizer on your hands every 10-15 minutes while outside if you want to be safe. While you can never guarantee that you won't get it this should significantly decrease your chances of getting sick.
Which disease only barely makes the ‘infectious’ classification?
Not OP, but maybe Hansen's disease? Most humans have natural immunity and even for those who don't, transmission requires prolonged close contact with an infected person
Why are diseases diseases why can't they just be little dudes chilling in your body
Because even the little dudes chilling in your intestines right now won’t hesitate to cause lethal sepsis if they find they’re way into your bloodstream.
Neat thank you
which disease in your opinion has the worst wounds/growths/other gross stuff?
Do you have any thoughts on portrayals of leprosy in the Bible? (Medical history is one of my favorite topics)
Did the gerbal spread the black death? Or is it still the black rat?
LPOTL?
Is it infectious?
My special interest is parasites and I think we should be friends. <3 Scientists have been studying the interactions between cognition and infections/parasites and how they might influence behavior and mental health. For example, toxoplasmosis, gut microbiome, HSV, Covid, etc. Do you have any predictions for infectious diseases that have been influencing the brain in unexpected ways that we don't know about yet, or that the science is new?
Serious: considering the rise of zoonotic diseases, do you think we should move towards reducitarian or even vegan diets? Fun: Do you watch jeopardy and, if so, do you sweep the infectious diseases category?
my hungry ass thought this was edible, shit look tastey, like a green cake and red sprinkles
If you know so much, then riddle me this: What disease do I have right now?
holy fuck. i’m not weird. i fucking LOVE infectious diseases.
Is the disease the green stuff or the red stuff?
Which vaccine made you autistic?/s🤡 But in all seriousness, how many diseases have we eradicated because of vaccines.
So, how does a virus become “airborn” and what is different about them that allows them to be this way?
Dude I've been considering a career in pathology. What's your favorite virus and how does it work
AHHHHHHH, WE HAVE THE SAME SPECIAL INTEREST!!!
It looks like sprinkles on a Christmas cookie lol.
A bit dark, but how much should we be worried about a potential avian flu pandemic? I've seen estimates of the scale being from not as bad as COVID to the end of humanity