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Researcher Dies After Studying Plague Bacteria
Malcolm J. Casadaban, a molecular genetics professor at the University of Chicago, died last Sunday, seemingly from an infection of a weakened form of Yersinia pestis, the bacteria that causes the plague. "Because this form of the bacteria is not known to cause problems in healthy people, special safety procedures are not required to handle it, said Dr. Kenneth Alexander, a virologist and chief of pediatric infections at the U. of C. Medical Center. Lab researchers who work with the bacteria would typically wear gloves, a lab coat and protective goggles, and the bacteria would be disposed of in a biohazard bag and heated for about two hours, Alexander said. Two key questions in Casadaban's death will be whether there was anything different about the strain of bacteria he was handling and whether Casadaban had any underlying conditions that may have made him more susceptible to infection."
Man, we're so screwed now. This is like a movie. Who knows who he had contact with? It probably morphed in some way and now it's going to sweep the globe wiping out most of the population. :(
when he rises from the dead, will he spread the contagion through his bite, and will cutting off his head finally kill him?
This comment is fully compliant with RFC 527.
I took a lab class from him on genetic engineering in the late 90s. Though he was a little eccentric at times, and spoke with an incredibly soft voice, I remember him as a professor who would spend countless hours with the undergraduate students, teaching them to learn the basics of molecular biology - the U of C will be worse off without this devotion, without him. He even wrote me a recommendation letter for graduate school, but I've lost touch with him since then, now, to my infinite regret. May he rest in piece.
...or does this sound like the intro to a very unoriginal survival-horror video game? "Resident Evil IX: Bubonic Destiny"
Now my outfits will finally come back in style, and I can get all the chicks instead of lots of stares and police harassment.
"An initial autopsy showed that Casadaban "showed no obvious cause of death"", the report goes on to state that the found the bacteria in his bloodstream.
What was his white cell count? Were cytokines present in his bloodstream? Was his lymphatic system showing signs of duress (engorged, trapped glands; cell death)?
I'm also a bit wary of the fact that the report was released from the University Medical Center where the man worked, not the local Medical Examiner's office. I'd love to see a second conclusion, and not have to fear that the University is doing this as a publicity stunt for their research programme.
Going to be a real embarassment if we find out he died of a cheeseburger, or embollism, or insulin-related shock.
If I get out of my car and promptly drop dead, you're not going to say that driving my car was the cause of death.
First Swine Flu, and now this shit?
May we all pray the remaining survivors (Steve Jobs, Chuck Norris, Richard Stallman and Cowboy Neal) start a new civilization.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
Isn't this where the plot for about a dozen movies kicks in?
You would think plagues and other horrible diseases should be eradicated not preserved to experiment with later. Take small pox it was supposed to be eradicated but they just won't let it die . But curing diseases would be a bad business model and lead to their eventual unemployment.
Now we got the "bacon flu" AND this plague, so we're good.
We'll call it "I can't believe its not Plague"
You have to be very smart, takes decades of education, and it can kill you in ways we haven't even discovered yet. And that's why they get the big bucks.
The Admin and the Engineer
Oh rats.
Oh no! That's tragic!
watersheD essay,
I just... I was saving that bacon.
So I work in the same building as this lab, use the same elevators, touch the same door handles etc. I'm not too worried, but plenty of people are and have been since they started working with your *more dangerous than ecoli* varieties. What really pissed me off is that if I had not heard about this from a PI down the hall yeasterday I would have found out about this through /. I can understand why the UoC doesnt send out alerts like this via email to everyone, but some people do need to know. The PI down the hall basically said "shit shit, god damn it, shit, the cdc will be here to deal with and who knows if we'll be allowed to stay," probably a slight over-reaction, but as my mother the md mph said "this is one of those NEVER things." Anyway, I was very sorry to hear about this, also as TFA says, we really dont know if this was a opportunistic infection that was able to get in because he was already sick or what.
Plague. Death. Otherwise healthy individuals.
'Toxic Skies'.
The only difference is there's no mention of chemtrails in the Sun-Times article. Of course, there wouldn't be, would there.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
Ah, whew. I misread the summary; I was afraid that not brushing my teeth was going to kill me one of these days.
This is newsworthy if he actually died from this strain which we had thought was not dangerous. Considering that it has been used as a vaccine and plenty of others have been exposed without any ill effects, it seems like concluding that the plague bacteria is what killed him is very premature. There's no direct evidence that this is the cause of death - there is no cause of death as of yet.
The autopsy showed "showed no obvious cause of death" except for the presence of the weakened strain of the plague bacteria Yersinia pestis in his blood, the U. of C. Medical Center said in a statement."
That is far from conclusive, especially given that there aren't any reports that he developed the symptoms of the infection before dying. Chances are we'll get some more conclusive information as they continue to review the case and the data from the autopsy along with tissue samples and toxicology tests. However, there is the possibility that the cause of death will not be known. There are a number of deaths each year in otherwise healthy people which can't be conclusively proven to be caused by a single cause.
Don't they have penicillin in Chicago? really? This guy died from studying the plague and it didn't occur to him to get some antibiotics?
They're using their grammar skills there.
If you play with fire, you will eventually get burned. You can talk about precautions and safety measures and such. Human beings make errors. The more complete they believe the security precautions to be, the more likely they are to become careless of the dangers. More than enough people have read the book or seen the movie "The Stand". Someday, someone will be looking back at Stephen King's work or Legend and will be amazed at how prophetic it was.
It's really more like predicting that there will be a terrible NASCAR crash and a much loved driver will be killed. It's really only a matter of time.
In Soviet Chicago, plague study you!
It's been a long time since we had a plague on our hands, maybe it's time for comeback of that disease?
You were supposed to do this just after the 2012 'election' of the next Cheneyesque King/Dictator/Emperor to create just the right amount of fear to allow for the elimination of the last vestiges of the constitution.
the abyss gazes also into you.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
what if he transmitted it to others?
Wetterhahn was a chemist who was working with dimethylmercury which people did not realize was nearly as dangerous as it was. She died of mercury poisoning despite following all the standard safety requirements. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn Sometimes we just don't know enough.
They mean the Descolada! It's starting! There will be dead people, and live pigs all over the place.
"Because this form of the bacteria is not known to cause problems in healthy people, special safety procedures are not required to handle it, said Dr. Kenneth Alexander, a virologist and chief of pediatric infections at the U. of C. Medical Center."
He's a 'virologist' so perhaps he doesn't know too much about this but often when a pathogen which doesn't cause problems in healthy people does end up cause problems - it is usually not the pathogen which has mutated but the patient who had an underlying -often undiagnosed- condition.
My pets had the most awful flea infestation ever this year, that would not yeild to poison of any kind!!! If there had been plague going around then it would have killed all my pets and probably my whole family ( if there were not antibiotics ).
I would give the animals flea shampoos ( which is not easy for cats! ) every three days. I also bought flea powders, flea coat sprays, Frontline, and other brands of flea drops that are supposed to work for thirty days. Let me tell you that nothing got rid of all the fleas except shampoos, but that the animals would be reinfested in one day after a shampoo. The drops which are supposed to work a month meant I couldn't very well wash them off with a fleabath, those drops ( including Frontline Hartz and Seargeants ) never lasted more than three days. I changed every piece of cloth covering in the house ( and I have not a bit of carpet in the house ) and used a bunch of bug bombs, and still saw some fleas after a few days. Though I did put a flea COLLAR on each of the animals. While a flea collar won't kill all fleas, they do seem to keep the number of them under control unlike any other measure. With collars in place fall came, and I think my house is finally flea free. Phew!
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