Thread

Nearly 200 people under observation after Irkutsk lab worker dies from plague

222 points · 202 comments · ericmay

abnry · 1791169150 · focus · HN ↗
How often does this sort of thing happen? I'm guessing more than we think, either because we forget the news stories we read or because it isn't reported.
1. jmyeet · 1791169414 · focus · HN ↗
  Janet Parker was the last person to die of smallpox and, yes, she caught it in a lab [1].
  [1]: <a href="https://whyy.org/segments/the-tragic-case-of-smallpoxs-final-victim/" rel="nofollow">https://whyy.org/segments/the-tragic-case-of-smallpoxs-final...
2. dnautics · 1791170107 · focus · HN ↗
  There was a COVID 19 lab leak in Taiwan about a year into the pandemic.
  <a href="https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4374289" rel="nofollow">https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/4374289
  Six errors contributed to this leak.
3. breadzeppelin__ · 1791170228 · focus · HN ↗
  Bubonic plague is known to be active in Colorado, I think there are a handful of cases each year
  1. dreamcompiler · 1791171883 · focus · HN ↗
    If you live in the Rocky Mountains try to avoid close contact with prairie dogs or animal carcasses and you'll be fine. If you catch it, get to a hospital quickly and take the antibiotics and you'll probably be fine. If you delay treatment you should use that time to get your affairs in order.
    fc417fc802 · 1791173552 · focus · HN ↗
    > avoid close contact with prairie dogs or animal carcasses and you'll be fine
    I thought at least fleas could transfer it between mammals?
    DocTomoe · 1791185674 · focus · HN ↗
    Thus 'avoid close contact with prairie dogs'. The 'medieval rat/flea'-connection was a problem because rats and humans lived in close vicinity to each others. A flea doesn't hop 5 miles towards from through the desert.
  2. mdp2021 · 1791179013 · focus · HN ↗
    Endemic in Antananarivo (very many deaths per year), not sure about the rest of Madagascar.
4. mycall · 1791172994 · focus · HN ↗
  Also ask how much is this failed route procedures because organisms or viri of this variety won't continue without human sustainment which is prone to human failures...
5. scheme271 · 1791185785 · focus · HN ↗
  A while ago a researcher at the Univ. of Chicago died of the plague. Although most labs use a mutated form that can't get iron needed to reproduce, he had a medical condition that caused an excess of iron in his blood that might have yet the bacteria grow.
  However, every year there's a few deaths in the US from the plague because it's present in a variety of animals. If you look worldwide, there's probably on the order of a thousand deaths annually.

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