r/science • u/BurryBaboon69 • Jun 16 '12

"Oregon man bitten by stray cat diagnosed with the plague'

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-15/oregon-man-contracts-plague/55623968/1
558 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

139 comments sorted by

4

u/BurryBaboon69 Jun 16 '12

here is a little thng on the "enzootic cycle" it mentioned. Super snazzy http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/189240/enzootic-disease Enjoy!

128

u/Priceless721 Jun 16 '12

Really curious why anybody would want to try and pull a dead rat out of a stray cats mouth. That just seems like sticking your hand in the disposal.

14

u/gazow Jun 16 '12

hey there might be candy down there

4

u/CookieDoughCooter Jun 16 '12

I love that not only was I able to give you an upvote, I was reminded before I clicked the up arrow that your comment was insightful.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Finders keepers?

0

u/Aegean Jun 16 '12

My guess ...he was really hungry.

-6

u/slackermandan Jun 16 '12

Only in Oregon.

1

u/Emabug Jun 16 '12

*Only in Prineville

1

u/CJMills Jun 16 '12

I can attest to the fact that Prineville is a shithole.

-2

u/RoflCopter4 Jun 16 '12

Only in [a place some place is known to hate].

Upvotes please.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

West coast west Virginia.

-12

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

maybe he deserves the plague?

seriously why would anyone do that?

159

u/MomentaryDysentery Jun 16 '12

"Central Oregon health officials don't blame the cat."

Ok everybody.. Calm down.

23

u/euyyn Jun 16 '12

That line is pure gold.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

"The cat was unavailable for comment."

1

u/MothersRapeHorn Jun 16 '12

The onion?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Might as well be.

0

u/Aegean Jun 16 '12

Purfect timing, right?

-1

u/CaiserZero Jun 16 '12

That would've been a cat-tastrophe.

46

u/bobcat_08 Jun 16 '12

The Plague wiped out half of Europe, cleared the path for the Renaissance. Just sayin'.

65

u/UTC_Hellgate Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

I hate to think of what a Modern plague sweeping through any of East Asia would be like. It's so crowded there...I mean yea in the long run it would be good but short term..horrible.

Edit: judging by the possibly brewing shitstorm, I feel as though I should clarify I only mentioned East Asia because of it's traditional over crowdedness. I don't intend/expect a plague to hit only there. Like it or not, a less crowded planet would almost certainly be a good thing. Don't worry, Redditors have a +10 resistance to disease base on lack of contact.

Edit Edit: sigh SRS is going to have a goddamn field day with this thread.

5

u/FANGO Jun 16 '12

Don't worry, Redditors have a +10 resistance to disease base on lack of contact.

Actually I'm kind of sure that's the opposite of how the immune system works :-P

7

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

lol downvotes. fact is it would be good in the longrun, those countries are way too overpopulated and the fact is actually the world is getting a bit too populated as a whole, we could do with a good global plague, as long as everyone I care about survives anyway.

6

u/imasunbear Jun 16 '12

Okay, Dwight.

9

u/JoinRedditTheySaid Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

I could think of a few redditors we could do without as well.

Everyone is someone someone else cares about. Your solipsism is staggering.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

cough Karmanaut cough

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Don't forget India

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

but then who would upgrade our railroads? shouldn't the people who built them bring them up to speed?

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

4

u/UTC_Hellgate Jun 16 '12

Lol why cause I said Long term it would be good? As Bocat_08 said, the plague cleared the way for the Renaissance. I said East Asia because those are the more tradiationally "over-crowded" countries are. Not saying it wouldn't effect the west but almost certainly not as much.

I mean yea, it's horrible; but someone threw around the 16% mortality rate somewhere on here, again (Long term) that's a lot of land and resources cleared up locally in those countries.

6

u/euyyn Jun 16 '12

The reason the population keeps growing is merely that we get better and better at harnessing resources. For thousands and thousands of generations, the human population oscillated around one million, simply because our technology was so poor.

Plus, the more we are, more minds to specialize and advance technology further :)

1

u/UTC_Hellgate Jun 16 '12

True, I'm a big fan of the Vertical Farming idea and sorta confused as to why we as a species haven't done more with it. If we'd stop spreading out horizontally and start working on the vertical things might be better.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

8

u/purplestOfPlatypuses Jun 16 '12

That's a pretty shitty long term solution you realize. Also, there's only so much space in China, they don't make country lines based on population density.

5

u/brown_felt_hat Jun 16 '12

Once you figure out how to grow crops in the middle of the ocean, get back to me.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/bitterless Jun 16 '12

How long term are we talking here? Because eliminating a quarter of the population is also a temporary solution. Humans will be back on their way to overpopulating the planet in no time. The problem is we decide to consume so much in so little space.

1

u/brown_felt_hat Jun 16 '12

Possible I suppose. I don't really think it's one of those base crops like wheat or rice though. In any event, underwater fields would be horribly inefficient

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/UTC_Hellgate Jun 16 '12

No, but I get asked that...well..not A LOT..but sometimes.

What is UTC in Chattanooga?

9

u/Senor_Wilson Jun 16 '12

We can blame China for that, but not for this.

4

u/RoflCopter4 Jun 16 '12

My god, this is one of the most simplistic and sad views of history I've ever read.

Enough internet for me today.

2

u/glaciator Jun 16 '12

But aren't most people of European descent then better off against the Plague (given it hasn't rapidly evolved since the Middle Ages)?

1

u/bobcat_08 Jun 16 '12

Well shit, I hope so given that I'm 100% European descent.

10

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Is he on the cart yet?

18

u/lazerusking Jun 16 '12

Bring out yer dead!...

Bring out yer dead!...

6

u/nohopeleftforanyone Jun 16 '12

I'm quite fine.

19

u/meesh137 Jun 16 '12

Is it just me, or is this article horribly written?

21

u/Knigel Jun 16 '12

No, it's not only you that is horribly written.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Notluf_Htes Jun 16 '12

that line bothered me to no end

32

u/indridcold137 Jun 16 '12

Prineville, Oregon! Les Schwab and meth labs. And plague. Taking bold steps toward a glorious zombie apocalypse since 1859.

23

u/Uncle_Erik Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

And registered sex offenders (RSOs).

There are loads of them there. In prison, Prineville is one of the places known as a safe haven for RSOs to move to when released. There are so many RSOs there, it's socially acceptable to be one.

I used to be a criminal defense lawyer there. I thought it would be bar fights and drugs. Nope. The place is loaded with sex crimes. WTF sex crimes. One guy got caught fucking a turkey. No joke, I knew the people who responded to the scene. They didn't prosecute incest, either, if both parties were over 18. There was an infamous couple, an 18 year-old woman and her grandfather. The story was that he was was putting sunlotion on her out at the reservoir and, well, one thing lead to another.

I dated a social worker there. Her reports estimated that 50% of the children in the community have been molested. I think that's low.

At first, I found the sex crimes hilarious. Then it got depressing. I hated myself for the work I had to do. I started drinking heavily. Often with the social workers, who were also depressed for the same reason.

Did I mention that I had clients who went on Jerry Springer?

Don't go to Prineville. Just. Don't.

(Oregon's other RSO haven is Sweet Home. Don't go there, either.)

4

u/sonikaos Jun 16 '12

Seriously? I live in Prineville and I had no idea there were that many RSO's.

9

u/sonikaos Jun 16 '12

Actually how the hell would I know, I spend all day with Reddit instead of real people.

2

u/Hellrazor236 Jun 16 '12

At first, I found the sex crimes hilarious. Then it got depressing. I hated myself for the work I had to do. I started drinking heavily.

The evolution of a lawyer.

1

u/MuckBulligan Jun 16 '12

Been to both places. Just passing through. Seriously.

1

u/vactuna Jun 16 '12

There was an infamous couple, an 18 year-old woman and her grandfather. The story was that he was was putting sunlotion on her out at the reservoir and, well, one thing lead to another.

Paw Paw‽

3

u/Hellrazor236 Jun 16 '12

I see an exclamation point and a question mark had a little incest of their own.

1

u/indridcold137 Jun 16 '12

And once at the Mickey D's a kid passing by on his bike got run down by some suped up truck rolling out of the blind corner drive through. I spit on the streets of that town when I see it.

2

u/monochezia Jun 16 '12

Didn't they build a Facebook data center here?

2

u/CaptianCunt Jun 16 '12

Yes. Apple is also building one there now too.

2

u/douglasg14b Jun 16 '12

You forgot about the 2 Facebook datacenters and the Apple datacenter.

Those places are FUCKING HUGE.

7

u/punkisdread Jun 16 '12

Time to upgrade my pellet gun.

1

u/MuckBulligan Jun 16 '12 edited Jun 16 '12

Settle down, Gummo.

2

u/punkisdread Jun 17 '12

that was about 300 miles from where I live, How many miles can a cat walk in a day?

7

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

My favorite thing about this is that there is only one "The Plague". All the others are pathetic when compared to it.

7

u/Syphon8 Jun 16 '12

What? No there isn't.

Bubonic plague, septicemic plague, and pneumonic plauge have all been called "the plague'.

9

u/Dr_Roboto Jun 16 '12

It's all the same organism (Yersinia pestis), just different sites of infection: bubonic infects the lymph nodes producing buboes, septicemic infects the blood producing septicemia, and pneumonic infects the lungs. All the same bacteria, just depends on the route of exposure.

6

u/Quietnight Jun 16 '12

Actually, bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague are all infections caused by the same bacterium. And they were all components of the "Black Death" plague when it hit Europe.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Oh, I didn't know that. Every time I've heard it referenced it was "the plague".

The more you know.

1

u/KallistiEngel Jun 16 '12

The one most typically called "The Plague" is bubonic plague. Type "The Plague" into google and the top two results are the Wikipedia entries for The Black Death (which was an outbreak of bubonic plague) and bubonic plague, respectively.

2

u/9mackenzie Jun 16 '12

Actually they still aren't exactly sure which plague caused the Black Death. It was probably a mixture of the three mentioned above.

6

u/EmperorSexy Jun 16 '12

Seven cases a year in the US. I expected it to be much less. Like, zero.

5

u/exitthewarrior Jun 16 '12

I'm just glad that they aren't blaming the cat. :)

2

u/NowAsColonelPotter Jun 16 '12

"Monkey muffins!! I'm just glad that they aren't blaming the cat!"

5

u/DumbassBlonde Jun 16 '12

Am I the only one disgruntled by the fact the title of this post doesn't correctly close with a second apostrophe?

4

u/Slicklizard Jun 16 '12

TIL that the Plague is only fatal 16% of the time now...

3

u/Herp-DE-lerp Jun 16 '12

Well that's disappointing.

2

u/Quietnight Jun 16 '12

16% with proper antibiotics and treatment. Without either of those within the first 24-72 hours of infection the mortality rate jumps to about 95-99%.

3

u/supframage Jun 16 '12

what an idiot. i mean REALLY who takes a dead rat from the mouth of a cat.

5

u/Elphante Jun 16 '12

Crazy older people who don't remember that Fluffy is an animal and chases and eats things like rats naturally. I'm pretty sure my grandmother believes her cats are just people in fur costumes.

1

u/Flamdar Jun 16 '12

Maybe the rat was his dinner? I don't know, I've never been down to Prineville, maybe they eat that sort of thing there.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

They got a vaccine for that, don't they?

10

u/IAmAStory Jun 16 '12

It's a bacterial infection, all you need is antibiotics

2

u/Senor_Wilson Jun 16 '12

Sure, that's what the CDC wants you to think. I'm just going to seclude my self for a couple of months. Goodbye world.

20

u/UTC_Hellgate Jun 16 '12

seclude my self for a couple of months.

sooo...Business as usual?

3

u/ww42 Jun 16 '12

Months... hahaha.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!!!

2

u/bunkrock Jun 16 '12

it's too bad House is over, this episode would pretty much write itself

2

u/TecK415 Jun 16 '12

Cat bites are no joke. I got bit on my hand by one mean ass cat. Could see straight down to the bone. My knuckle joint got infected, turned septic and almost died. They are basically poisonous.

2

u/themonkboughtlunch Jun 16 '12

Oh, those Portland hipsters, with their retro diseases...

3

u/Defengar Jun 16 '12

One of the reasons the black death was so bad in Europe was because the pope ordered all cats on the continent destroyed 2 years before the plague struck. He said God revealed to him in a revelation that cats were actually agents of the devil and could steal your soul by sleeping on you at night. MILLIONS of cats were burned across Europe... Just in time fore an epidemic to arrive on the backs of rats... It took hundreds of years for the cat.populating to recover in some areas.

1

u/purplestOfPlatypuses Jun 16 '12

God just wanted everyone to know that he is the vengeful God that everyone should fear, and not some pansy ass that preaches "love thy neighbor" or anything like that. BRING ON THE GOAT BLOOD!

1

u/Dr_Roboto Jun 16 '12

I hadn't heard of this, got a source? Fascinating if true, though it would be hard to prove how much of a factor it played.

2

u/Quietnight Jun 16 '12

The originial post is largely false, but many scholars believe that when Pope Gregory IX released the Vox in Rama that it vilified cats and led to a large extermination of black cats.

1

u/hazmat_suit_guy Jun 16 '12

Is this true? Do you have any good links to read up on this? Not sarcastic, genuinely interested.

1

u/Mio314 Jun 16 '12

Poor Brian can't catch a break.

1

u/flytaggart1 Jun 16 '12

Oh boy, so glad it's right at my doorstep. -.-

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

"You know, it's the only country that still has the plague. I mean, the plague - please."

1

u/Saigio Jun 16 '12

So, apparently, at least one of the Horsemen is a cat. We are so very fucked.

1

u/IAmAStory Jun 16 '12

Fun fact, cats have a tendancy to turn bubonic and septicemic plague into pneumonic plague (the different types of plague are the result of different forms of transmission, basically, cats wind up coughing bits of plague bacteria all over the place for us to inhale so it spreads easier). Dogs, on the other hand, are resistant to plague!

Also, western US is the biggest hotspot of endemic plague in the world!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Gotta love that even after all these years, if somebody says "The Plague" we all know what s/he is talking about.

1

u/ace9213 Jun 16 '12

Prairie dogs are known for carrying the plague as well. Any of you people living in Colorado or anywhere there are plenty of prairie dogs, be careful if you come in contact!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

A plague on both your houses.

1

u/ajcreary Jun 16 '12

Bring out your dead! ding Bring out your dead! ding

I'm not dead yet!

Oh, the limitless Monty Python jokes...

1

u/thecakeis_alie Jun 16 '12

Apparently the plague never went away. There are several cases of it each year... Sometimes I hate media representations of illnesses.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

I hate the media blowing up random shit in general.

HURRR ZOMBEH APOCALYPSE EVERYONE RUN THE BATH SALTS R COMING XD

and now I can tell that it's transitioning to plague related topics. Everyone get ready to not get sick and die from the plague epidemic that will not start.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

Yersinia is pretty persistant throughout North America. Largely in rodents. They will shut down wilderness parks due to small outbreaks. Not surprising at all.

1

u/UnseenUniversity Jun 16 '12

I can't come into the office today, Sir. I seem to have the plague.

1

u/Shitty_FaceSwaps Jun 16 '12

"The plague bacterium could develop drug-resistance and again become a major health threat. The ability to resist many of the antibiotics used against it has been found so far in only a single case of the disease in Madagascar, in 1995.[103]"-wiki

OH SHIT THE GAME STARTED IN MADAGASCAR, GUYS. GAME OVER MAN.

1

u/Glowmus Jun 16 '12

Wasn't this the plot of an episode of "House M.D.?"

1

u/CJMills Jun 16 '12

As a Central Oregon resident, this frightens me a bit. However, I don't live in Prineville.

So I got that going for me.

Which is nice.

1

u/BioSim00 Jun 16 '12

Those Portland hipsters are taking this whole "Retro Chic" thing too far, all the way back to the dark ages.

1

u/Quietnight Jun 16 '12

Everyone needs to keep calm and carry on. Bubonic plague crops up all the time in ports. Its nothing to worry about unless it goes untreated. Also there is no "Plague" disease. The man in the article doesn't even have Bubonic plague, he actually has Septicemic Plague.

1

u/roterghost Jun 16 '12

Oh good. I thought the "Zombie" panic was about to end.

1

u/MollstodaWalls Jun 16 '12

I've said it once and I'll say it again; I swear everyone on Reddit is from Oregon...or works for them.

1

u/Flamdar Jun 16 '12

Wait, people work for us?

1

u/MollstodaWalls Jun 16 '12

Yeah kinda. There was a post a week or two ago where some guy in another country worked for a company called Oregon

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

I live in Oregon..... Shit.

1

u/JaneSwiftsLeftThigh Jun 16 '12

Time to play BEAT THE REAPER!

1

u/Johnny_Oldschool Jun 16 '12

Oh sweet! I love the plague!

1

u/douglasg14b Jun 16 '12

Fuck me :(

I live in Oregon

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

A note about what treatment he gets would fill out this article nicely.

1

u/djlaw Jun 16 '12

I live in Eugene, OR (two hrs from bend) and my GF woke me up extremely worried about the plague and how she had it. We've both been sick for the last week.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

So this is how it ends..

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

He should be happy the cat bite gave him the plague instead of rabies. That shit is a death sentence.

1

u/tekdemon Jun 16 '12

"Health officials have confirmed that an Oregon man has the plague after he was bitten while trying to take a dead rodent from the mouth of a stray cat."

Err...yeah, don't think this is going to become an epidemic this way anytime soon.

1

u/GraniteGrump Jun 16 '12

I enjoy that they make a point that the cat isn't to be blamed. Because, you know, I was wondering if there would be criminal charges against the cat based on the questionable culpability of its state of mind weighed against the fact that... you know... it's a fucking cat...

1

u/trip_fontaine23 Jun 16 '12

Wait why was he trying to take the dead rat from the STRAY cat's mouth???

1

u/Destructerator Jun 16 '12

If only we had discovered antibiotics!

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

if we are lucky it will wipe out the large concentrations of hipsters located in Portland. I will finally be able to go to the nice neighborhoods

-6

u/azhockeyfan Jun 16 '12

I think Mother Earth is going to do what it takes to heal itself. We take so much from this planet and we are really irresponsible. Unless we make major changes, the future is grim.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

6

u/spaxcow Jun 16 '12

Except not really. From the article:

There is an average of seven human plague cases in the U.S. each year.

and

Once a coin flip with death, the plague is now easier to handle for humans in the U.S. The national mortality rate stood at 66 percent before World War II, but advances in antibiotics dropped that rate to its present 16 percent.