Like K-Stew and R-Patt’s relationship, bubonic plague is back y’all!
*Can we please take a moment to thank the US Weekly editor/gods that we’ve all made it past that time of national crisis?
I’m talking about the Twi-Breakup, obviously. Not the bubonic plague. That appears to be here to stay. Like Lindsay Lohan and drunk driving. Or, Amanda Bynes and drunk driving. Or Miley Cyrus and really weird fashion choices (what is all over her fingers?).
What I’m saying is….what was I saying? Oh yes. Bubonic plague.
Hot on the oxblood heels of the various Fashion Weeks around the world, the bubonic plague is back in style. Long thought to be just some bad fad from Middle Ages Europe (hello, kirtles!), the Black Death is staging a full comeback.
The latest trendsetter? Some lady in Oregon who got it from giving mouth-to-mouth to a cat choking on a mouse.
Hold. Up. Say what?
A woman who tried to help her friend save the life of a choking cat also contracted the plague from the disease-stricken feline over the summer.
The woman was bitten at the same time as Paul Gaylord, who made national headlines when he almost died from a version of the infection that killed millions in the Middle Ages.
The two had found a stray cat in distress, choking on a mouse. They were bitten when they tried unsuccessfully to help the animal.
This to me is TERRIFYING. I have an extremely soft heart when it comes to animals and a very meddling type of personality, so if I saw a kitty cat in trouble, I would, of course, try to go to its’ aid. Not sure I’d be willing to do mouth-to-mouth though. Especially if there had just been a dead mouse in that mouth. Might have to draw the line there.
Then I heard this morning about some seven-year-old little girl who was being released from the hospital after catching the bubonic plague from playing with a dead squirrel. Well, she wasn’t really playing with it so much as trying to bury it, which is really quite cute, but also? Very creepy. Quit playing with dead animals, Wednesday Addams.
ABC News reports that Sierra Jane Downing put down her sweatshirt next to a dead squirrel Aug.19 in Pagosa Springs. Five days later, she was running a high fever — up to 107 degrees — throwing up and having a seizure.
The girl was flown to Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver, where Dr. Jennifer Snow ran blood tests on Sierra Jane and learned that she had been in close contact with the squirrel, mouse droppings and a dead skunk, ABC reports.
Wow. What the heck, parents? Ever try a coloring book or a Nintendo or something? I’m not one to give out parenting advice here, but you might want to keep a closer eye on your kid.
The Deseret News reported on the plague outbreaks and even called this the Summer of Disease Outbreaks.
They also alerted me to the fact that there have been six reported cases of people catching some hantavirus at Yosemite National Park. I don’t even know what that is, but based on the World Health Organization’s very helpful advice to avoid rodents and their droppings, I can hazard a guess. (Oh, and don’t worry WHO. I will definitely avoid those two things from now on.)
I will also avoid all other animals for the next several months as we slog through the Fall of Doom and Death.