Did Mosquito Bite Defeat Alexander?

Sunspot net ^ | 12-13-2003 | Heather Dewar

[blam]

Did mosquito bite defeat Alexander?

Virus: An epidemiologist believes dying ravens are a sign that West Nile killed the Greek emperor.

By Heather Dewar
Sun Staff
Originally published December 13, 2003

When Alexander the Great stood at the gates of Babylon in 323 B.C., the story goes, a flight of ravens fell dead at his feet.

It was a bad omen, according to the soothsayers. Within two weeks the conqueror of an empire that stretched from Greece to India was dead, at age 32, of a mysterious illness.

Doctors and historians have speculated for centuries about the cause of this battle-hardened warrior's death. In 1998 two University of Maryland Medical Center physicians said he probably died of typhoid, which can cause the chills, fever, abdominal pain and delirium that Alexander suffered.

[blam]

Doctors Link Polio To West Nile Virus

[tet68]

Interesting!

Myth and legend so often based on fact!

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Mosquitoes can kill
Even a great Emperor.
Thank God for Yard Guard.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I seem to remember reading that he was wounded in the thigh by a spear and the wound infected resulting in his death.

[Khurkris]

...there's a skeeter on my p*t*r KNOCK IT OFF!, there's a skeeter on my p*t*r KNOCK IT OFF!, there's a skeeter on my p*t*r, there's a skeeter on my p*t*r, there's a skeeter on my p*t*r KNOCK IT OFF!,

we regret any inconvience you may have had, We now return you to your regular program already in progress.

[tet68]

Warning! Some swelling MAY occur. Pack infested area in ice.

[TexasTransplant]

Mosquitos just suck, I mean it they really suck.

[TexasTransplant]

Dang it Blam I missed the perfect opportunity to float my new Tagline.

[curmudgeonII]

What about any of the other equine encphalitis diseases which also kill birds? [Eastern equine encephalitis, western equine enchaphalitis, St. Louis equine encephalitis, Venezuelean equine encephalitis, for example.] What about other diseases which can affect birds and man?
Looks to me like this guy had a little too much spare time on his hands.

[gitmo]

But today, across the Potomac, the Virginia Health Department's chief epidemiologist says those dying ravens weren't omens, but clues. Alexander may have been history's most famous victim of West Nile virus, John Marr claims.

So Silent Spring missed it.

[montag813]

didn't he take it up the butt? perhaps he died of an ancient form of AIDS.

[expatpat]

....a flight of ravens fell dead at his feet...,[which] was a bad omen, according to the soothsayers

I'd say a bunch of big black birds falling out of the sky next to you would be a bad deal in any context!

[Western Phil]

"I'd say a bunch of big black birds falling out of the sky next to you would be a bad deal in any context!"

Probably beats having them falling into you, depending upon the size of the birds.

[mel]

btt

[Cacique]

bttfl

[Charles Henrickson]

Moabites, Edomites, Mosquitobites. . . .