Killer Mice, Part II

The one creature that may scare us Southwesterners more than an angry rattlesnake or hairy tarantula is an ancient demon called hantavirus. Hanta is a cousin of the better-known ebola virus. Having plagued the Navajo Nation for years, its source was not identified by the CDC until 1993, an El Nino year marked by an explosive rodent population.

Vermin, like the ubiquitous deer mouse, shed the hantavirus into their urine, feces, and saliva. The excrement then aerosolizes and is inhaled by unsuspecting humans. The result is a fatal disease known as Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).

HPS begins like a bad case of the flu, with fever, chills, aches, and GI upset. The next stage involves the rapid filling of a victim's lungs with fluid. Even the healthiest of souls cannot avoid drowning. And if you do not drown, then you may bleed to death, hemorrhaging from your IV and catheter sites~~as hantavirus disables one's platelets from clotting.

So, the next time you see a beady-eyed whiskered soul do not coo at him as if he were Mickey or Jerry. Be smart; turn tail, and run!

~ Medagogue

Killer Mice, Part I

When I fled the Pacific Northwest for 300-days of sunshine per year, I did not realize that I would be trading in fresh salmon for killer mice. I kid you not, in the covenant document that came along with my first Southwestern home it mentioned the “occasional” incidence of plague─The Black Death that killed off 1/3 of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages. Plague is caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis that lives in the guts of fleas that piggyback on vermin like ground squirrels and rats.

So then it should have come as no surprise, one spring afternoon, when my vet casually mentioned the need to test my cat for plague. Leo, my Siamese, had the habit of leaving mice in the canoe stored in my garage. I assume this makeshift morgue was a demonstration of his love (though, I would have preferred half-pound packets of smoked salmon, thank you). It seems Leo had tussled with a ninja-like deer mouse who left him with a golf-ball-sized pus pocket on his neck.

While Leo turned out to have a run-of-the-mill abscess, a couple living down the street from us were not so lucky. While walking their dogs, they became lunch for some plague-carrying fleas. Unfortunately, their plague was diagnosed while on a visit to NYC, putting that part of the country into a panic. Most often, plague can be treated successfully with antibiotics (like gentamicin). However, because plague is rare and unheard of on the East Coast, the diagnosis came late, prompting the amputation of the husband's legs to save his life.

(Stay tuned for more chilling stories of Mickey's revenge...)

~ Medagogue

Deadly Greens

Preschool recess found me plucking plugs of grass and stuffing them into my gullet, emulating my then hero, Popeye. At the time, I did not realize my pica (eating of non-edible material) exposed me to pinworm or fecal-oral transmitted diseases.

But, adults should know better. Or maybe, they are so far removed from the food-chain that they forget that most vegetables are fertilized with ground-up animal body parts and feces and irrigated with unsanitized water. Produce is washed to rid it of pesticides, herbicides, and harmful bacteria.

The culprit currently making children and the elderly sick when eating spinach is E. coli 0157:H7. This bacterial strain gives off a toxin that sloughs off the lining of the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys, resulting in bloody diarrhea and the decreased ability to urinate.

Unlike most bacterial infections, E. coli 0157:H7 is not treated with antibiotics, as the killing of the bacteria releases more toxin (causing more internal damage). Instead, the affected are hospitalized and receive appropriate supportive care. Most recover; however, some are left with irreversible kidney damage. In the most severe cases, patients die.

So, as a public service announcement, wash your fruits and veggies. And, the next time you go to sneak an unwashed carrot, remind yourself it may have been raised in a deadly mix of fowl guts and pig poop.

~ Medagogue