h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

<> "They" doesn't refer back to anything. Replace with "the prisoners / the condemned"
<> Was the midnight ringing a 'service? "concerning condemned prisoners; it was also rung outside the condemned cell at midnight" would be better.
<> should be something like "This was also intended to break necks, but most of the prisoners continued to slowly strangle to death"
Sorry, Mina. I only bother with those worth saving It's a great article, otherwise

Good comments, all taken on board and duly implemented.

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I've only just realised I was on the Front Page today!

Also -- typhus is NOT a "virulent form of typhoid" -- in fact, they are not even related, other than both being infections which are likely to show up in poor hygiene conditions such as jails and boot camps. Typhus is caused by rickettsial bacteria and is arthopod-borne (which is why you can get it from ticks), whereas tyhpoid is caused by a form of salmonella, and is generally transmitted via the fecal-oral route (i.e., food poisoning).

There are actually many different forms of typhus, but the type you're talking about in a jail population is probably what's known as "epidemic typhus", which is caused by Rickettsia prowazekii.


Mikey

Hmm, would have been useful info in PR. I spent a lot of time looking up information on typhus and typhoid - although mostly in historical books, rather than medical ones, so it's not surprising I went for glamour.

When I'm back at work I'll see if I can get it changed. Can you suggest some wording for me, so that I don't get it wrong?

What a lovly Artical, I had quite alot of fun doing the picture, lots of flaming building pics and prisoners going to be hung as research

-- DoctorMO --

I'm glad you enjoyed doing it, it's a great picture, and really sets of the entry.

"The thorny issue of capital punishment is one that rears is head on a regular basis. BBCi keeps track of these debates..."

Just a reminder to myself when I get back in the office on Friday.

Yeah, I see historians mistake typhus and typhoid all the time, or assume that because the words are similar, the diseases are related.

I seem to remember that these names were being invented and applied back in the days before germ theory was really understood -- it's possible that they thought that the two were related -- after all, they do tend to show up in the same populations, and at the same time of year. It's just because of common risk factors, not because of common etiologies or vectors or things like that.

Anyways, for something to say about typhus, I'd say something to the effect of:

Infectious diseases like typhus, which was spread throughout the prison by lice and fleas, killed far more people than the gallows.

A lovly was to die,

-- DoctorMO --

Yeah, as an epidemiologist, there has always been something about diseases spread by bugs that just pissed me off. As if having a nasty disease isn't bad enough, but to think that you got the disease from lice feces, that just really takes the cake...

You'd think that diseases like this would be totally wiped from the planet by now, but sadly, no. Especially problematic in refugee camps.

makes me glad the few bugs I know about are nasty anarobic ones, care for a sausage?

These places were a bit of a depravity for our comunities in the past, how can you justify killing anyone, ever.

-- DoctorMO --

Thanks Mikey, I'll to the Editorial team tomorrow to see if they'll let me change it. I don't like to interfere in the Edited Guide to much, in case I break it. Even if it is my own entry!

Ahsley has graciously given permission. O God of guide entries.