by GJ Zukow
This may be something new, something never seen before. The evidence for this is the contagion isn't specialized or limited to one family or species of mammal. It is making all the mammals sick. Reptiles are immune to this it seems. No mammal, big or small, seems to have any real immunity at all. Animals all over the world are affected, catching the illness at the same time people do.
People are reacting strangely to this. Psychologists say it's the difference between the known and the unknown. Whereas before, with other flu strains, people could walk around thinking "I probably won't get sick." Now people are fretting about the fact that they almost certainly will get sick.
Everybody, including the kids in school are wearing latex gloves and wearing masks over their nose and mouths. Everyone is using anti-bacterial hand sanitizer and are generally trying to do anything they can to minimize their exposure. It seems, even knowing that all their precautions won't stop them from getting sick, they do it anyways.
Myself, I take a "come what may" attitude. If the fates dictate I will catch a cold, then there's nothing I can do about it. It's just a mild flu in humans. No biggie really. It's not the end of the world.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The "Great Rat Death" and the "Rat Flu" have reached Orlando simultaneously. It seems as if everybody is sick except me. There's a lot of sniffles, sneezes and runny noses. Other symptoms include itchy, watery eyes, a headache and some coughing. The symptoms are generally mild, in most cases, and resemble an allergic reaction more than a virus.
Both my mother and my sister have gotten the flu. My little sister wanted to stay home from school as soon as she felt the first symptoms of the illness. All she has is a case of the "sniffles" (as my mom calls any minor cold), so my mom told her she still needs to go to school. It's not like Lucy is going to spread the disease to anybody else, because everybody else already has it.
"If I have to go to work then you have to go to school." Is, and always has been, my mother's mantra about staying home from school.
Besides, whenever Lucy runs a fever and has to stay home, that means I have to stay home from school also. Somebody has to watch her after my mom leaves for work around eleven in the morning to work the afternoon shift at the hospital. That somebody means me. Even on regular days Lucy gets home from elementary school before I do, but she spends the hour before I get home at old Mrs. Hoffner's house next door.
I think Mrs. Hoffner, who's in her late seventies, enjoys having some youthful company. None of her relatives visit her much, as most of her family lives on the west coast. I like the old lady but her house smells like the six cats she owns. The cats are what Lucy likes the most about staying there. An old shoestring is all it takes to keep the cats, and Lucy, playing happily until I come home. Lucy runs around, dragging and wriggling the shoestring, while the cats jump and try to catch it. Even Mrs. Hoffner is entertained by the antics. I sometimes wish I could be so content with such a simple thing as a glorified piece of string.
On the news the main stories are all about the flu. They talk about productivity being way down worldwide due to people taking their sick days off all at once. The stock markets are also down slightly, no surprise there. An interesting, slightly scary, news bit talked of how the vast majority of the lab rats (used for research) have died in their cages. Only those mice in highly secure and protected facilities (those with state of the art air and water filtration systems) have survived. The rats that have survived are those used specifically for research on highly communicable diseases (or military research into bio-weapons some say). The extreme safe-guards used to protect the outside world from them is the only thing that kept the outside world from killing them. Needless to say this may slow down the research into a cure.
My mother told me there's a lot of doubt amongst the doctors as to this being a virus. Some things just don't add up and every road to find the virus responsible for the outbreak has hit a dead end.
The CDC hasn't made much headway either, remaining quiet about what they have found.
The only silver lining to this dark cloud is being reaped by the big drug companies. Cold and allergy medicines are flying off the shelves. Drug stores, even the huge retailers like Walmart and Kmart, can't keep anything on the shelves. Everything from aspirin to vitamins are sold out almost as soon as they get stocked.
The hospitals worldwide are stressed to overflowing with this non-life threatening epidemic. My mother used to get home around ten or so at night, but lately she's been getting home around midnight. One of her pet peeves about people doing this is that they should go to their doctor for stuff like this and not overflow the ER (which is meant for real emergencies, not a case of the "sniffles").
I'm just glad I haven't caught the flu bug yet. I'm knocking on wood hoping I don't catch it either.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Everybody and everything, it seems, in the greater Orlando area is sick. In people the sickness is actually mild, with some variance (some people do seem to get hit harder, of course, running a fever and feeling extreme fatigue). There are some few of us that are naturally immune for one reason or another. The news programs state that less than ten percent of the population have escaped this virulent disease.
There's an underlying scent on the wind. There are literally billions upon billions (maybe trillions) of dead rodent corpses rotting around the planet. Where everybody was wearing masks to try and ward off the coming sickness before, now they wear them doused in colognes and perfumes to cover-up or overwhelm the stink. The smell taints peoples view of reality, as if it's some kind of horrible omen of things yet to come. In a certain way it's true, this near extinction event for the rodents and their ilk will most certainly lead to further deaths. With rats, mice, moles and the rest of the food removed from many animals diets, there will be another round of starvation and death. This cycle of death may continue for many rounds until the food chain sorts itself out again. For some animals it's a boon. Flies and insects who feed and breed in corpses are going to see their populations increase dramatically. It's also a feast for vultures and all those eaters of carrion.
To see just how widespread this horrible thing is, all one has to do is visit the local zoo. This contagion has hit the mammals hard. In people it's generally mild as I stated before, but in animals it's has a twenty percent death rate. Dogs and the canine family (and this includes foxes, wolves, coyotes, etc.), are immune as are all fish and reptiles. Primates, chimpanzees, monkeys and apes seem to be affected in much the same way as we humans.
In school so many students and teachers have called in sick that many of our classes have "doubled-up". Many of the same classes have been rolled into one, creating a slight bit of chaos. There's some talk of just cancelling school for the next week, which will cause an extension of the school year. I won't know if this happens until Sunday night, if the school board decides to do it, the local news will broadcast what schools are going to be affected (like they do with snow days up north).
On the bright side, and I'm sure there was a global sigh of relief with the news, the people who had gotten sick first (in the Korea's, China and most of Asia) are recovering. Thank the Gods that this thing only lasts about a week. With unknown diseases like this nobody knows what to expect. Now people's fears are greatly relieved, for the most part, knowing that this will soon pass. The animal deaths are sad but nature has seen this before. In a few days, at the most, people will have recovered and then we can get back to our normal, boring lives.
The CDC's latest report on the global epidemic was less than informative. They stated that this was not due to any virus. They have ruled out the origin of this modern plague as being due to any bacterial, mold, fungus or environmental cause. If they can rule out all those things, doesn't that leave the culprit to stand out by itself? It seems that they know what it is but are keeping silent for some reason. Surely there's a plethora of cadavers to dissect and examine. The general consensus is that the cause is disturbi
ng and they want to wait until this has passed to release the news. The "internuts" and conspiracy idiots have proposed everything from aliens using bio-warfare as a preliminary attack to science gone awry and everything in between (including religious fanatics maintaining that this is a sign of the end times).
My mother (who works as a nurse) has told me that the doctors have quietly started treating this as some sort of parasitic infection. That news sounds unsettling to me. If this is true, that it's due to a parasite, then I can kind of understand why the CDC won't release this fact until it has passed. Just the thought of miniscule insects swimming through my bloodstream gives me the "willies". It's weird but my mother has informed me that our bodies are already host to a multitude of other foreign bacteria's and whatnot, symbiotically living in most cases, within us. Even though the doctors are treating this differently now, they still report no progress in stopping it.
Whatever the cause, I'm just happy that this thing, whatever it happens to be, is soon going to be over.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Finally my little sister, Lucy, has gotten over her illness. It's about time too, her constant whining and complaining was seriously getting on my nerves. Almost everyone has either gotten over, or has almost fully recovered from the disease. The animals on the other hand, seem to have only gotten sicker.
School has returned to its normal routine, with any chance of cancellation being quickly squashed. Production is almost back up to normal in businesses around the world and even the finicky stock markets are up.
There's almost a celebratory feeling in the air now. When this new and unheard of pestilence swept the globe there was a feeling of fear and uncertainty. Nobody knew if this would be a death dealing disease or the mild annoyance it turned out to be. People are acting as if they just dodged a bullet. Maybe we have. All one has to do is breathe to realize just what this thing was capable of. The smell of death blows on the wind. The scent of all those unlucky victims rotting away is a constant reminder of what could have been, had the disease mutated.
The CDC released its findings this afternoon. It turned out to be just like my mother told me. The world just saw the birth of a new microbe. A single celled parasite never before seen. The Center for Disease Control said that while the parasite resembles Toxoplasmosa Gondii on the outside, the new parasite is completely different genetically. Toxoplasmosa Gondii is a common microbe that infects the brains of rats and changes their behavior significantly.
This particular parasite affects the behavior of its host species. The life cycle of the tiny parasite called Toxoplasma Gondii is unusual. Toxoplasmosa Gondii lives rats and reproduces in the intestinal tracts of cats. It is not only able to survive the cat’s digestion process but requires it to reproduce. The single celled puppet master ends up in the feces of the cat and if other animals come in contact with the excrement it can cause the animal to become infected. In Infected rats the parasite makes its way to the brain and alters the rodent's behavior. Once the parasite establishes itself, the normally fearful rat becomes fatally attracted to the smell of cats and cat urine. The rats, if they aren't attracted by the smell of cats, certainly no longer fear being eaten by the cats and end up becoming dinner. The ingested parasites then make their way to the cat’s stomach and reproduces to complete its life cycle.
Scientists and doctors know that humans can be hosts to Toxoplasma, too. People can become infected by its eggs by handling soil and kitty litter. In some places of Asia (where cats are still on the menu) poorly cleaned knives and cooking utensils can spread the organism. In most people, the infection causes no harm. Toxoplasmosis is a serious risk for people with AIDS. If a person's immune system is weak Toxoplasma can grow uncontrollably and the parasite can kill. Pregnant women are also advised not to handle kitty litter, and Toxoplasmosa Gondii is the reason why. The insidious organism can cause birth defects and spontaneous abortions (miscarriage). There are studies that have shown behavioral changes in humans, including slower reaction times and an increased risk of traffic accidents among infected men. There also may be links to schizophrenia, hallucinations and reckless behavior. In most cases, the parasite lives unnoticed in people's brains. Estimates range from a third to half of the people on Earth are infected with Toxoplasma.
Sometimes the more I know about something, the less I wish I knew about it. That is so totally messed up.
Onto the weirder news of the day. In South Korea and southern China there are reports of bat colonies just going insane, attacking villagers and any living creature they can find. Nobody has died from the attacks but their victims are covered with cuts and nicks from their small teeth and claws. The bats behavior turns increasingly violent, until they turn on each other, dying from blood loss due to their many wounds.
The fact that bats are related closely to the rodent family, coupled with the fact that this new parasite seems to be related to one that can change the hosts behavior (and normal thinking patterns) leads me to think that this is also the work of the new, still unnamed, parasite. I hope I'm wrong.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Toxoplasmosa Mondus Omni is the name of the new parasite. The meaning of the words come from Latin with Toxon meaning "bow" and Plasma meaning "shape of" or "disposition of", with the whole meaning of the word being "bow shaped organism". Mondus means "world" in Latin and Omni means "all" or "everything". The new name for the new parasite literally means "The bow shaped organism that covers the world". A committee of the CDC gave it this name, no particular researcher or scientist named it. I did some research of my own on the name and found that "Mondus" has multiple meanings, just as many English words do. Mondus can also mean "clean" or "organize" or "neat". The root of the word mondus comes from "to prepare, to outfit" in Latin. In the sense of the belief that the world was created from chaos comes the ordering of the world, hence its dual meaning. In that sense the name of the new organism could also mean "The bow shaped organism that cleans all".
Leave it to a U.S. government committee to be perfectly unclear in something as simple as assigning a name. They named it before they knew of the parasites effects in its adult stage. Maybe they weren't being unclear, maybe they unknowingly got the name correct after all. Maybe they got the name right but the meaning wrong.
There's a horrific wave of terror sweeping Asia and reaching into deepest Russia and the Middle East. The fast moving surge of death is following the same pattern and spread as did the "Rat Death" and the "Rat flu". It's as if the animal kingdom is rising up against all of nature, including mankind. Especially mankind. The human death toll is already into the tens of thousands. It's going to go global. There is no doubt on this. It will spread to the furthest reaches of the globe within the week. It will be here, in Florida, in no more than three days from now.
First comes the colonies of bats, flowing out of their dark roosts, attacking and trying to kill everything and anything that moves. This continues until they finally end up mauling each other to death after a day or two at the most. Then comes the squirrels, chipmunks, gerbils, hamsters, minks, lemmings and every other small, once timid creature.
The human death toll is greatest among the poorest and more remote peoples. Lightly built dwellings and huts serve as no defense from the attacks of the small maddened creatures. The insane critters slip through gaps, chew through thin walls and jump through open windows. No weapon can truly stop them. Small, fast moving targets are hard to hit even with automatic weapons. Even a sharpshooter, even if he killed an infected animal with every shot, soon gets simply overwhelmed or runs out of ammo. Whole villages are simply clawed and ripped to shreds by the enraged beasts. Only by taking shelter in solidly built, modern buildings can one be safe. Whole areas of countryside's are de-populated as the people rush into the cities to try and flee certain death.
Thankfully we in the U.S. have warning of this. People are reinforcing their houses, boarding up windows and doors as if a hurricane were on the way. Once again
the huge corporations are making a ton of money, plywood and food stocks are almost completely sold out around the world. Nobody knows how long this will last. From observing the animals in captivity, like zoos, we find that once the blood-lust hits the infected animals they no longer show any interest in food or water. They mercilessly attack any and every thing until they die of thirst or starvation. Even pet food stocks are low as people prepare for the oncoming siege, both for themselves and their pets.
The ferocity is so overwhelming in the poor animals that even after they have brutally murdered their children and mates, the lone survivors relentlessly claw and bite at their confines, desperately trying to get to the zoo keepers. Those maddened creatures only stop once they die of blood loss, having turned their paws into bloody stumps of useless meat and having lost all their teeth from biting frantically at metal and glass enclosures.
The parasite has turned up in seals, otters, dolphins and whales. They, like the canine and ursine families, show no outward symptoms or behavioral changes.
