Mice Infected With Deadly Plague Missing From Newark Lab (NJ)

WNBC Television ^ | 9/15/2005 | Puppage

[LIConFem]

AAAaaaachoooo!!!

I think I found one...

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Must just be me.

[JustAnotherOkie]

A new strain...The Red White and Bluebonic plague.

[x5452]

Why can't they do this sort of disease testing near Guantanemo and not in NJ?

[Billthedrill]

Plague can certainly still kill people, particularly if it isn't recognized right away. It's unlikely to go epidemic in developed nations, however, since sanitary conditions are so much different these days. What made it a "plague" in the first place was that enough people got infected by rat flea-bites such that the few of them in whom that transitioned to the pneumonic form of the disease were enough to create another vector of contagion. Once it becomes spread by coughing it's a lot more dangerous.

[RSmithOpt]

"but also black rats, prairie dogs, chipmunks, squirrels and other similar large rodents."

So, aren't DemocRATS other large rodents?

This would explain the symptoms of Liberals and their ilk as well as the overall degradation of our society and the wellbeing of America.

"The disease becomes evident 2–7 hours after daily audio exposure to infectious rantings, diatribe, falsehoods, and personal insults.

Initial symptoms are chills, fever, headaches, and the formation of buboes that are the result of the audio bacteria and the truth coming into contact. The buboes are formed by the audio infection of the lymph nodes, which swell and become prominent.

If left unchecked, the audio bacteria infects the bloodstream (septicemic plague), which can progress to the lungs (pneumonic plague). In septicemic plague there is bleeding into the skin and other organs, which creates black patches on the skin, hence the name Black Death. Untreated septicemic plague is universally fatal, .......unless relentless truthful conservative audio antibiotics are taken."

[Redcitizen]

This article reminds me of Pinky and the Brain.

Pinky-- "what are we going to do tomorrow night, Brian?"

Brian-- "the same thing we do every night..try to take over the world."

Theme Song:

Pinky and the Brain
They're Pinky and the Brain
Yes, Pinky and the Brain
One is a genius, the other's insane
They're laboratory mice
Their genes have been spliced
They're dinky
They're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain,
Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain

Before each night is done
Their plan will be unfurled
By the dawning of the sun
They'll take over the world

They're Pinky and the Brain
Yes, Pinky and the Brain
Their twilight campaign
Is easy to explain
To prove their mousey worth
They'll overthrow the Earth
They're dinky.
They're Pinky and the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain,
Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, NARF!

[wanderin]

Over the last few decades the Mammoth area of the Sierra mountains in California there periodically appear signs warning of squirrels being infected with the plague. Normal for the area.

A list of symptoms and to be aware of the signs of infection and seeks medical attention etc.

[LongElegantLegs]

Bring out your dead...squirrels.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Are you referring to the mice or the health experts?

The mice. It was an obscure reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy.

[Vor Lady]

Shades of 'Secret of Nimh'....

I wonder if anyone tried Atlantic City; maybe they are trying to win enough to free their friends.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/16/plague_infected_mice_missing_from_lab/

SNIP

The possibility of theft prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct lie detector tests, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported yesterday.

The FBI said it was investigating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating, the newspaper reported.

University officials did not return a call seeking comment late yesterday.

[World'sGoneInsane]

If the mice got outside the lab, New Jersey Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said they would have already died from the disease.

Should we find comfort that they are dead, because we don't know what else they infected? Here's one for your "just damn" list.

[mhking]

So if you see mice walking sideways...

Just damn.

If you want on the list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[bannie]

You seem to have a good handle on this...

Isn't it true that it still exists in the Steppes (?) east of Europe and in the mountains just west of the San Joaquin Valley in California (just west of ME!)?

Every so often, we get warnings about feral critters being particularly pesty.

[mcar]

Oh geez,

Which exit was that?

[Sunshine55]

I am SO happy to have you back here!

[Billthedrill]

Absolutely. The original plague reservoir was in Central Asia, from which it spread via caravan and ship to Genoa in 1347, thence to the rest of Europe. That reservoir still exists; that is, the organism still causes periodic plagues in the host animals, some of whom are resistant, and the population goes down and up accordingly.

In the 19th century we imported Chinese labor to work on the railroads (and other things) and there was a burgeoning population of illegal immigrants in Chinatown in San Francisco. They had their own little private epidemic; private because as illegals the sick and the dead were hidden from the authorities. From there it spread to the population of small rodents that is the disease's natural reservoir, and slowly it spread toward the large population of prairie dogs in the southwest, where today that area comprises the world's second plague reservoir.

It's a dangerous disease for two reasons - the organism Y. pestis reproduces very rapidly in the body, and it has an endotoxin that causes severe anaphylactic shock - headache, fever, chills - which is actually what kills. You sock it with too high a dose of antibiotics and it can actually make the shock worse.

Nobody diagnosed in time should die these days, but the catch is "in time." Too late and it's still a 14% fatality rate. Consider that at its height in Europe it was 30-40% fatal. If it hits the pneumonic form and spreads as a respiratory disease fatalities can approach 90+%. It's nothing to take lightly.