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

I've got some diseases I'd be willing to share with the h2g2 community.

Seriously, I've got some stuff I ought to be able to put into a reasonable form relatively quickly.

*rushes off*

*rushes back in*

Look, it's the Plague!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A537284

Tell me what you think. Am I on the team?

Hey, Jimi! Yes, you can definitely be on the team. Once I get a bit more organized, I'll let you know in more detail what kind of info I think should be included for each of the topics (one thing for sure, should be "how to avoid catching this nasty disease").

Which topics do you think you'd like to tackle?


Mikey

I've already got the Plague and I could probably give you Rabies and
Anthrax without too much trouble.

That's about all I'm good for I'm afraid. Too much more than this and my head is likely to explode.

Did you take a look at the Plague page?

http://www.bbc.oc.uk/h2g2/guide/A537284

Let me know if this is what you're looking for and I'll bang out the other two in a relatively short time.

Since you never got back to me about the Plague, don't tease me about taking five months to get two more done.

Here's Rabies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A637968

And Anthrax:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A637959

They're a bit rough and probably need some more work. Do let me know what you think.



- X

*grin* Yes, yes, I've been amazingly slow on this one. As far as the plague entry goes, it's looking good. My 2 recommendations would be that it include a little more info distinguising between the 3 classic categories of: bubonic, pneumonic, and systemic; and that it include a little more info on prevention and treatment.

I'll get back to you on the others in a minute. Thanks tons for all your work!


Mikey

As far as the Rabies entry goes, one comment I have would be the "almost always fatal" part. I think you need to delineate that it's almost always fatal ONCE it reaches the point where clinical symptoms occur. If postexposure prophylaxis (PEP - the official term for getting those shots) happens, it's most definitely *not* fatal. This is why it's so important to get the PEP _immediately_ after exposure (bite/scratch/whatever) rather than waiting to see if the person gets sick (idiotic, but it happens more often than we would like).

You say that rabies is very rare in humans, but don't give any numbers -- what "very rare" means to one person is quite different to another (i.e., 1 in 100 vs. 1 in a million), so I think it's important to include some numbers where possible.

Another animal likely to have rabies is the coyote.

Rabies vaccines should be it's own section. It should probably explain that some rabies shots are good for 1 year, and some for 3, but they have to be kept up regularly regardless, or else they don't do much good. It should also mention that people at high risk (i.e., vets and dog catchers) can get the human version of the rabies vaccine.

The bit about rabies being rare among rodents may vary according to region -- I know I've lived in areas where quite a few of tested squirrels were positive. I think I'd emphasize that while these animals might be less likely to carry rabies than foxes/bats/etc., it's still a distinct possibility, and so people should avoid trying to feed them or pet them or whatnot.

Another tip to tell people to watch out for is in regards to nocturnal animals. Many of the animals likely to have rabies (such as bats and raccoons) are nocturnal -- if you see them out during the day, it's quite likely that they are rabid. If someone sees an animal they suspect has rabies, they should call their local animal control.

In addition to the behaviors you described, rabid animals may also appear drunk.

It's also worth noting that the *only* way we currently have for testing an animal for rabies is to kill it, chop off it's head, and disect the brain (rabies is only infectious during the last stage of infection, when it is in the brain). When someone has been bitten by a pet, a common course of action by local animal controls is to isolate the animal (generally at a pound or vet's office, and it usually has to be by someone licensed by the state to do so in the US) for a fixed period of time (i.e., 10 days). If the animal is still alive and not showing symptoms of end-stage rabies at the end of the isolation period, it can be concluded that the animal could not have infected the person with rabies (although the animal could theoretically be infected with the rabies virus, it couldn't have reached the brain and saliva yet, or else the animal would be dead or very obviously dying by that point).

This is also the theory behind the laws many countries have for isolating animals brought into the country for a period of time (I believe they're isolated for 6 months in the UK). If they don't die during that time, it's rather unlikely that they were carrying the rabies virus when they came to the country. It is by means like this that the UK has managed to stay completely rabies-free. For obvious reasons, this method has only worked with islands.

It's also worth pointing out the variable time span between exposure (bite, etc.) and onset of symptoms -- this can be as short as days/weeks or as long as several years, and is largely dependent on where in the body the exposure was. For example, if you are bitten on the toe, it will take longer for the virus to travel to the brain via the nervous system than if you are bitten on the neck -- hence it may take several times longer for symptoms to appear. If the virus is inhaled, symptoms can appear very quickly (there's at least one report of a very nasty lab accident where this happened and everyone died).

It might also be worth including some info on how rabies actually kills the victim (I believe it's via a form of encephalopathy, but you should definitely check me on that). I also like to mention that it is now believed that Edgar Allen Poe died of rabies (people had thought that he was incredibly drunk during his last days, but it turns out that his symptoms were more indicative of end-stage rabies).

Oh, and maybe a bit on why people used to call it "hydrophobia". And maybe even a mention of that really sad movie where the animal has rabies and they have to shoot it.


Mikey

As far as anthrax goes, I think you're going to need to mention the biological warfare potential.

Oh, and the bit on penicillin might be out-of-date -- many doctors apparently prefer some of the newer line anitbiotics, like cipro (which is selling off pharmacy shelves in the US right now b/c people are trying to prepare for a biological warfare attack).

Unfortunately, infection due to biological warfare is most likely going to be via inhalation -- which means that even with prompt treatment, survival rates are very low.


Mikey

Oh, and I think you'd also need to have a paragraph on the current controversy regarding the anthrax vaccine.

Mikey

Wow!

This gives me an idea in which direction to start moving. Since I'm a generalist (most of us reporter types are), I wasn't clear how technical you wanted to get.

But with your notes, I'll start hammering them out for real now...

...say another five months?

(I'll try to get them done more timely than that!)

- X

*grin* Hope I didn't overwhelm you too much...

Oh, and if you look at my links page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A520705), there's a link to a really cool rabies control project I worked on in Texas -- seems like there should be a way to work that in somehow...


Mikey

Cheers Mikey!

I'll check out that link Monday!