"Why TB you ask. The house I grew up in, from 1961 to the 1974, faced the grounds of the Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium. There was a fence around the property and it was patrolled by security guards daily. That was all I knew."
Via.
posted by bibliogrrl
on Aug 31, 2010 -
9 comments
Rats are being trained to detect buried land mines in Africa.
Giant African pouched rats! Mine-detecting is definitely not a suicide mission, the rats are
trained with care and attention and are expected to give about eight years of service. They can also detect
tuberculosis. And so
cute! Here's a page on keeping them as
pets (but you'd need a spare room and a nocturnal lifestyle.)
posted by aeschenkarnos
on Dec 3, 2004 -
17 comments
With a newly indurated PPD in my arm, I went looking for tuberculosis resources. According to the WHO over
2 million people a year die of tuberculosis. About a third of the 40 mil. people infected with HIV worldwide are also infected with TB. Successful treatment takes
6-9 months of powerful antibiotics, but that's assuming the bacteria in your body aren't
drug resistant. Epidemics of drug resistant TB are raging in some parts of Central America and in the
Russian prison system. Paul Farmer is the man for treating it, and quite a
good man in general.
On the plus side, possibly having TB puts me in good company:
Orwell,
Kafka,
Chekhov,
Chopin, and the 70s favorite mummy,
King Tut all had it. Every one of the
Brontes did too, and they were all geniuses. Of course they all died of it. On a more sober note, if I do have to get treatment, but I refuse, I might be
ordered to take medications by a
judge.
posted by OmieWise
on Dec 2, 2004 -
11 comments
