Better Than LSD

April 6, 2011 5:51 PM

Sex After a Field Trip Yields Scientific Discovery. Via: /.
posted by rosswald (36 comments total)

More sex! Do it for science!
posted by killdevil at 5:52 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I thought this was a The Onion headline at first.
posted by formless at 5:59 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

...it would be the first documented case of sexual transmission of an insect-borne disease.

So his wife is an insect? I think I see the problem.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:14 PM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

"My wife wasn't happy with what happened afterwards," Foy adds.

Yes, please continue...
posted by Chuckles at 6:14 PM on April 6, 2011

this WAS a Cracked article a few weeks ago
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:17 PM on April 6, 2011

sux
posted by Pecinpah at 6:18 PM on April 6, 2011

As part of their research on malaria, the scientists had been collecting mosquitoes in a southeastern village called Bandafassi, where they were often bitten. About 5 days after their return, both researchers got sick. Both had a rash on their torso, extreme fatigue, headaches, and swollen and painful wrists, knees, and ankles. Foy also had symptoms of prostatitis, including painful urination, and he and his wife noticed what looked like blood in his semen, according to the paper.

"Mosquito-borne disease researcher" is now top of my list of World's Most Undesirable Jobs.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:20 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Umm . . . yay?
posted by brain_drain at 6:20 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

...he confirmed that he is the anonymous "patient 1"; his Ph.D. student Kevin Kobylinski, who accompanied him on the trip to Senegal and also got sick, is "patient 2." Foy's wife, Joy Chilson Foy, a nurse at the Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, is "patient 3"; she is also a co-author of the paper.

So hot.

...he and his wife noticed what looked like blood in his semen, according to the paper.

I'll be in my lab.
posted by DU at 6:22 PM on April 6, 2011 [5 favorites]

Not what we meant when we said "make science more sexy".
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:23 PM on April 6, 2011 [4 favorites]

those of us whose only experience with sex after a field trip was limited to a handjob on the bus back to school applaud you mr. foy
posted by kitchenrat at 6:25 PM on April 6, 2011

Sometimes I wonder why women are willing to have sex at all. As if we don't have to worry enough about STDs and babies and crossing some weird invisible line that means we have too many sex partners, we now have to worry about insect diseases? I am not sure orgasms are worth it.
posted by jenlovesponies at 6:28 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is what happens when you try to fuck a mosquito in the ass.
posted by lemuring at 6:44 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

So, uh, what's the story with the post-doc? just kidding, i read the link
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 6:44 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

I am not sure orgasms are worth it.

I don't know if you are aware, but....you don't have to risk STDs and babies and weird invisible insect diseases for this.
posted by DU at 6:53 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

This is what happens when you try to fuck a mosquito in the ass.
Indeed. [NSFAnyone]
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 6:56 PM on April 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Both had a rash on their torso, extreme fatigue, headaches, and swollen and painful wrists, knees, and ankles.

They both get the Gold Medal for Powering Through.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:00 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Pronunciation guide: dengue - "den-gay", Poudre - "pooter"
posted by jimfl at 7:02 PM on April 6, 2011

Dear Penthouse Forum: I never thought it would happen to me...
posted by chinston at 7:09 PM on April 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

There is no direct evidence that Foy's wife was infected through sexual contact, but the circumstantial evidence is strong.

That's not a discovery...more like sensationalistic paranoia....and HIV travels through sweat. Totally cue the 80's...
posted by Benway at 7:23 PM on April 6, 2011

"But, baby, it's for science!"
posted by Foam Pants at 7:34 PM on April 6, 2011

Yeah, I was wondering how they ruled out the grad student as the source of her infection...
posted by Maias at 7:44 PM on April 6, 2011

"HUZZAH!"
posted by gc at 7:50 PM on April 6, 2011

reminds me of a horror short i saw last week, The Midge (don't think the full thing is online)
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:53 PM on April 6, 2011

"Yeah, I was wondering how they ruled out the grad student as the source of her infection..."

You read that she is an author on the paper right?
posted by Blasdelb at 8:06 PM on April 6, 2011

FTA: "Scientists already knew that many insect-borne pathogens can be transmitted orally as well"

The romance in their relationship has clearly died. They had sexual contact but did not kiss?
posted by idiopath at 8:50 PM on April 6, 2011

I was for a brief moment thinking this would be a link to the award-winning Tabitha and Madison scene. "That doesn't smell like marijuana!"
posted by Meatbomb at 8:52 PM on April 6, 2011

Worst. husband. ever.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 9:10 PM on April 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not tonight dear, I have Ebola.
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:15 PM on April 6, 2011 [4 favorites]

House did this in a 2004 episode where African sleeping sickness was sexually transmitted. House based his discovery on an article in an obscure Portuguese medical journal, because of course House likes reading obscure medical journals in foreign languages.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:05 PM on April 6, 2011

So, uh, what's the story with the post-doc?

Indeed. Listing him as patient #2 and the wife as #3 paints a pretty picture.
posted by yerfatma at 6:26 AM on April 7, 2011

Next time he comes back from the field, she'll have him in a bubble for a month before he gets so much as a hug.
posted by arcticseal at 7:35 AM on April 7, 2011

Post-doc was infected before the wife. Therefore, patient #2.

As for how they determined it wasn't passed through saliva... I assume that either patient #2 had some makeouts with someone who did not get sick or they figure that saliva would have somehow passed the disease to their children (sharing a glass or something).
posted by maryr at 9:51 AM on April 7, 2011

I've always been curious as to why HIV isn't transmitted by mosquitoes. In the past, there hadn't been satisfactory information available, so, I Googled it again, just now.

The first link I found seems to be an adequate explanation.

I think this makes the Zika transmission much more interesting, maybe suggesting that Zika has evolved a strategy for it. And of course, there are implications for other insect borne diseases as well.
posted by Xoebe at 10:52 AM on April 7, 2011

Dear Woman. . . .
posted by Danf at 7:16 PM on April 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

On the one hand, Xoebe's link is utterly fascinating to me and I can't deny that such information is good to know, even vital. On the other hand, I can barely *comprehend* the mind-numbing, painstaking gruntwork required to design and conduct the experiments necessary to come up with that kind of data, let alone imagine myself capable of making a living of such drudgery. No offense to the researchers involved, but...better them than me.

To be fair, the computeristic minutia that inform my own days could seem similarly tedious to non-IT folks, so to each their own I suppose.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:37 PM on April 7, 2011