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

I have pet rats. I am getting a pet snake over the weekend and am wondering if it's safer to feed frozen mice vs live mice. Feeder mice can be carriers of the disease so I want to be as safe as possible.

On a more fun note, I've just watched the series Dr.Stone after watching its teaser in an ad on Apknite so I wonder if a human body that had been preserved in ice for decades suddenly thawed, could that cause their introduction of (Previously extinct) deadly diseases into society?

I'm not an expert but I believe both bacteria & viruses can survive being frozen. But is there a disease you're thinking of that affects both mice & snakes?

Mmm.

Not really, it *might* kill some, but not others - think about the rule for not re-freezing thawed meat - it's because bacteria and other bugs (e.g. fungi) that have colonised it can still grow slowly in the deep freeze and will release their toxins slowly also. Hence - it's a bad move.

However.... of course it *does* slow that progression down. So it's better than feeding an unfrozen dead mouse.

Most pet stores that sell such things have freezer's full of frozen dead rodents, I expect that's fairly safe or they wouldn't do it.

>On a more fun note, I've just watched the series Dr.Stone after watching its teaser in an ad on Apknite so I wonder if a human body that had been preserved in ice for decades suddenly thawed, could that cause their introduction of (Previously extinct) deadly diseases into society?<

In principle, yes. I once saw a documentary on some WW1 era bodies found frozen up in Iceland or somewhere similar. They dated from the era of the Spanish Flu and they took *extreme* precautions for that very reason.

Bacterial spores can survive in outer space - that tells you something of their potential longevity and robustness. They can potentially survive in spore form for billions of years it is thought.
(not all bacteria spore however, but some pathogenic ones certainly do).

dont think it does, as they found earlier strains of spanish flue in frozen bodies in Brevig Mission, Oetzi had several pathogens