Friday, April 23, 2010

Science NonFiction

Someone I thought was a friend posted this link on her Facebook page. It led to an article describing deadly Cryptococcus gattii spores floating through the air, looking to take up residence in my lungs and kill me. I had to read it 3 times to understand it wasn't just an April Fool's joke, War-of-the-Worlds style.

I don't know about you, but something about the phrase "25 percent mortality rate" makes my ever-lurking hypochondria flare right up. Silly me.




[Photo credit: TechRepublic]

16 comments:

  1. I diagnosed myself with Pleurisy this week. I think I might have been wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yikes! And it's spreading. Across species! While killing them!! It's the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!! Run for your life! (But not in Oregon.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. It IS freaky, but - we don't know that everyone will catch it. Just that 25% of the people who catch it will die. So, you know, THATS comforting.

    (She says, from the spot where she rocks back and forth in the closet.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. At first I thought that was a concept drawing from Avatar -- which is what the rest of the family is watching in the living room right now.

    I'm trying very, very hard to not self-diagnose, but I've been doing it anyway. (Also, avoidance of real responsibilities because I'm good at that, too!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well that's just fantastic. Exactly what I needed to kick off my weekend. I think I'll stop breathing now. . .

    ReplyDelete
  6. That;s exactly why the internets is going to be the death of me...

    Friend, indeed...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't know what you're talking about, because I'm not clicking the links. I don't know, and I don't want to know. I prefer to remain happily ignorant.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oooo. I think I have it too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gooooodfffff Po[st Ii'nm Typingh tyhhis from a v vty hasmat sui t. Gooooodfffff Po[st
    o

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, that freaks me right out. I'm not reading the whole link; that's just a recipe for obsessive worrying for me!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not going to click that link, not gonna do it. I will get whatever it is, just through the keyboard. I am the Queen of Hypochondria Land. Google has opened up a whole new world of ailments I am certain I have. I've gotta go. I'm having some muscle aches and I'm sure it's Ebola.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I read this recently too, the same evening I saw the short video of Detroit from the air, looking like a war-torn Sarajevo. Scary stuff!

    P.S. I think I clicked over here from Murr's neck of the woods, the fungus-infested-Oregon neck. Great blog!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shelley is sooooo much smarter than I am. I clicked, then I panicked. Now I'm doing better with your good news. Glad that I am about as far away from Oregon as I can get in the States.

    ReplyDelete
  14. We'll just have to fence Oregon in to keep those spores from immigrating across the border.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I heard about that, too. FREAKY. Anything that begins with "crypto" scares me.

    ReplyDelete