Lots of flu epidemics

everyone knows about the 1917 influenza epidemic, but there were other influenza like epidemics before and after that. 

 So anyway, I was listening to this discussion about Jack the Ripper, and one person who was suspected by those who like conspiracy theories is a Royal son (at 22 minutes), and they mention that he was in Scotland during the time of the Ripper murders, and they mention  he later died of influenza in the 1890s influenza epidemic.

there was a major flu epidemic in the 1890s? Sort of forgotten today that influenza is a recurring illness.

Hmm. sort of overlooked that lotss of influenza epidemics out there  

As for the 1889/90 epidemic here on Wikipedia, 

It was the last great pandemic of the 19th century, and is among the deadliest pandemics in history.[2][3] The pandemic killed about 1 million people out of a world population of about 1.5 billion (0.067% of population).[4][5] The most reported effects of the pandemic took place from October 1889 to December 1890, with recurrences in March to June 1891, November 1891 to June 1892, the northern winter of 1893–1894, and early 1895. According to researchers' estimates, excess mortality from Russian influenza in the Russian Empire for the period 1889–1890 could be from 60,000 to 90,000 people, with lethality from the virus, a little more than 0.2%.[6]

more here:

A partial listing of particularly violent outbreaks likely to have been influenza include one in 1510...In 1580, another pandemic started in Asia, then spread to Africa, Europe, and even America,,, 

In 1688, influenza struck England, Ireland, and Virginia; in all these places “the people dyed … as in a plague” (Duffy, 1953). A mutated or new virus continued to plague Europe and America again in 1693 and Massachusetts in 1699...

In London in 1847 and 1848, more people died from influenza than from the terrible cholera epidemic of 1832. In 1889 and 1890, a great and violent worldwide pandemic struck again ...

read the entire article for a background of repeated epidemics of influenza type epidemics.

there is a question in some of the articles I perused wondering if that the reason the 1918 influenza was weaker in China was that they had partial immunity from previous infections.

A similar idea could explain why in 1917 it killed the young adults not just the elderly was because the middle aged and elderly may have had partial immunity due to previous infection in this earlier epidemic.

One sometimes forgets about previous epidemics.

One of my earliest memories was the doctor making a house call for my mother who had Asian flu, which was a major epidemic of 1957

Sine things to remember when you read hysteria about the next swine flu or bird flu epidemics threatening the world.

Dogs and horses saved the day

with millions of unscreened migrants let in by Biden's policies, it may be only a matter of time that we start seeing diseases not seen in the US for a century start popping up.

 there has been cases of Diphtheria in migrants in Europe. because many of these were not vaccinated in their own country. 

But ironically many who caught diphtheria caught it  in Europe, meaning that there are clusters of mild cases, or carriers, i.e. patients who carry the germ and spread it to others in communities where migrants are living.

 

so far, unlike Europe, the USA seems to be safe from epidemics:

from Grok:

Diphtheria is extremely rare in the United States due to widespread vaccination. ...    

- In 2019, two cases were reported,   (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/diphtheria-cases-in-the-united-states) - 

A 2020 case report described a 33-year-old unvaccinated man in Georgia with respiratory diphtheria, likely linked to his recent incarceration and lack of childhood vaccinations. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7753149/)

These cases are exceptions, often tied to unvaccinated or under-vaccinated individuals, international travel, or contact with travelers from areas where diphtheria is more common, like parts of Africa, Asia, or conflict zones. The disease remains under control in the U.S. thanks to high vaccination coverage with DTaP, Tdap, or Td vaccines. ...

more here.

 and the bad news is that unless your doctor worked or trained overseas, if you come down with diphtheria, they might not recognize it in time for the correct treatment. 

Of course, if you go to an old fashioned doctor who gives antibiotics for sore throats, you might have it cured before you develop proper symptoms.

what inspired this blog post was a book I ran across while checking Project Gutenberg: a 1919 describing the public health approach to diphtheria.

 And there was a cure: Anti toxin. 

Depending on the way it is treated, diphtheria is one of the least dangerous or one of the most dangerous diseases. It is one of the least dangerous when promptly treated with antitoxin; it is one of the most[8] dangerous when the antitoxin treatment is not given, or is delayed or insufficient.

In the days before we had antitoxin one out of every three children who had diphtheria died. Now, if antitoxin is used on the first or second day of the disease ninety-eight out of every hundred children recover. The sooner diphtheria is attended to the more certain is a cure.

The toxin is the reason for those tough membranes that cause choking. 

 Diphtheria-causing bacteria may produce a toxin. This toxin damages tissue in the immediate area of infection — usually, the nose and throat. At that site, the infection produces a tough, gray membrane made up of dead cells, bacteria and other substances. This membrane can obstruct breathing.

there is also a real danger of myocarditis and neurological complications from the toxin produced by the germ.

Nowadays, there is treatment: antibiotics and anti toxin.

 

Alas, diphtheria is still present here in the Philippines, and seen in various Asian and African countries,    

when I first started medical school in the 1960s, we still had an infectious disease hospital in our city and outside there was a bell. We were told if a child came in choking from the membrane, they could be saved by immediate tracheostomy, so they would ring the bell and any doctor in the area would come to the ER and do it.

And I add: Even though I have lived and worked in third world countries (and in areas of the USA that were essentially third world levels of poverty) I never saw Diphtheria. Maybe because our hospitals also had active outreach to immunize children.

The history of treatment of diphtheria goes back to the 1890s: here:

In 1890, an effective treatment for diphtheria – antitoxin – was discovered by Shibasaburo Kitasato and Emil von Behring in Germany...

more HERE. 

it was made by giving the toxin to horses, starting with a small dose then increasing the dosage until the horse provided lots of antibodies, which then were removed and purified to give to people

Horse serums have a danger of severe allergic reactions that can be fatal, but is available at the CDC: but now newer technology is being used to produce antibodies with a lower danger of allergic side effects. 

the life saving anti toxin became famous after there was an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome Alaska in 1925:

 

Balto, one of the dogs who carried the serum, became the poster child for publicizing that there was a treatment for diphtheria, (but some purists correctly point out that Togo was actually the first dog to arrive with the serum)

Wikipedia article has a lot of details: not a one time delivery, but several deliveries of the needed vaccine.

the Iditarod race commemorates this dangerous sled journey to save lives.

And Balto became the poster dog for those who risked their lives to save the children of Nome.

This blog has the photo of Balto's statue in Central ParkA low-relief plaque bears the words 

“Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxins 660 miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the winter of 1925.”

 ...........................

a longer version of this post is on my medical blog.

lead in makeup

 I am reading about the Tale of Gengi and the various  women's diaries from this time in medieval Japan.

One of Murasaki's diaries mentions a man knocking at her room asking for a poem, and she declined to see him because she hadn't put on her makeup yet. 

Well, I was aware of blackened teeth but did women back then use white lead makeup such as we see in Geisha photos? 

and did lead poisoning make people sick?

That, plus infectious diseases, especially smallpox, tuberculosis, and beriberi from white rice, might explain why so many characters tended to die a lingering death at a young age in her novel.

Grok answers:

Yes, makeup during the Heian period (794–1185) in Japan often contained lead.

The most prominent example is oshiroi, the white face powder used by aristocratic women to achieve a pale complexion, which was a symbol of beauty and status. This powder was typically made from ground rice or other starches, but in many cases, it was mixed with white lead (basic lead carbonate) to enhance its opacity and smoothness.

Lead-based cosmetics were common across many cultures at the time, including Japan, due to their desirable texture and color.

While the Heian period's records don’t extensively detail the exact composition of all cosmetics, historical accounts and later studies of traditional Japanese makeup confirm that lead was used in oshiroi. For example, the Genji Monogatari and other Heian literature describe women applying thick white makeup, which aligns with the use of lead-based powders.

The toxicity of lead wasn’t understood then, so its use persisted despite health risks like skin damage or systemic poisoning over time. Other makeup, like beni (red lip and cheek pigment made from safflower) and sumi (black ink for eyebrows and teeth blackening, or ohaguro), didn’t typically contain lead, but the white base was the primary culprit. If you’re digging deeper into this, I can look for specific sources or analyze related content for you.

so what led me to ask this? Well this video popped up on my youtube feed.

Queen Elizabeth probably had smallpox scars and heavy make up would cover it up. 

But what about modern makeup/cosmetic customs?

well, one well known problem is arsenic in skin whiteners:

So what does Grok say about this?

Modern makeup can sometimes contain trace amounts of lead or other toxic metals, but it’s heavily regulated in many countries to minimize health risks.

uh, Grok: not only is there a risk of arsenic in skin whitener, this.BBC article is about mercury in skin whitener in Africa 

Third world women use skin whitener, but it is often from shoddy manufacturers in China or India where regulation is lacking, and of course, as the BBC article above points out, is often smuggled into third world countries and therefore there is a problem of makeup toxicity in the third world ..\\

So when asked about the third world, Grok answers:

Heavy metals in makeup, particularly in products from less-regulated markets often associated with developing countries, pose significant health and environmental risks.

These metals—such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and chromium—can contaminate cosmetics through impure raw materials, poor manufacturing practices, or intentional addition for effects like skin lightening.

The problem is amplified in regions with lax regulations, limited testing, and economic pressures that prioritize cheap production over safety.

Health-wise, these metals are toxic even in small amounts.

Lead, found in lipsticks and powders, is a neurotoxin that can impair cognitive development, especially in children exposed through maternal use or direct contact.

Mercury, common in skin-lightening creams, damages kidneys and the nervous system and is absorbed through the skin.

Cadmium and arsenic, sometimes present as colorants or impurities, are linked to cancer and skin irritation.

Chromium can cause allergic reactions or, in its hexavalent form, act as a carcinogen.

Chronic exposure from daily makeup use can lead to bioaccumulation, where metals build up in the body, causing long-term harm like reproductive issues or immune system damage.

Economically and socially, the issue thrives in developing nations due to high demand for affordable beauty products, particularly skin-whitening creams driven by cultural preferences for lighter skin. These products, often produced locally or imported cheaply, bypass stringent checks.

For example, studies have shown mercury levels in some fairness creams in South Asia and Africa exceeding safe limits by thousands of times, yet they remain widely sold due to weak enforcement. Consumers, often unaware of the risks, are exposed to aggressive marketing that downplays dangers.

Environmentally, heavy metals from cosmetics contribute to pollution. Improper disposal of products releases these persistent toxins into soil and water, affecting ecosystems and food chains. Manufacturing processes in under-regulated regions also emit metal-laden waste, compounding the problem.

The root causes include inadequate regulatory frameworks, corruption, or lack of resources to enforce standards. Global trade loopholes allow contaminated products to cross borders, especially into markets with less oversight. Unlike developed nations with agencies like the FDA or EU’s strict cosmetic laws, many developing countries lack equivalent systems or prioritize economic growth over safety. Solutions are tricky but not impossible.

Strengthening local regulations and aligning them with international standards (like WHO or EU limits) is a start, but enforcement is key—random testing and hefty penalties could deter violations.

Public awareness campaigns, tailored to cultural contexts, can shift consumer behavior away from risky products. Supporting ethical brands that test for metals and use clean ingredients could drive market change, though affordability remains a barrier.

Tech like blockchain for supply chain transparency or portable testing devices could help regulators and consumers verify product safety. On the flip side, overregulation might stifle small businesses in these economies, and blanket bans on certain products could fuel black markets, where even worse quality control prevails.

Cultural attitudes toward beauty standards also resist quick fixes—skin lightening, for instance, is deeply entrenched in some societies, and change requires addressing systemic biases.

The problem isn’t just “third world”—global supply chains mean these issues can spill into any market. It’s a messy intersection of health, economics, and culture, and tackling it demands both local grit and global cooperation.    

sigh..... 

when one reads about skin whiteners, one thinks: For the face.

but you know, even deodorant here for women has skin whitener. ? 

lots of explanations why, but I suspect Acanthosis nigricans? That is associated with the gene for metabolic syndrome.

well, anyway, I don't need it, so I usually use Old Spice: I have used it for years because it was easier to just buy a man's brand when I lived in a household of men, since the boys would always end up just using the one in the bathroom.

------

 a longer version of this discussion can be read at my Medical blog.

=================

UPDATE:

Isabella Bird describes using makeup in rural Japan  Written in 1878.

The barber’s work was only partially done when the hair was dressed, for every vestige of recalcitrant eyebrow was removed, and every downy hair which dared to display itself on the temples and neck was pulled out with tweezers. This removal of all short hair has a tendency to make even the natural hair look like a wig. Then the lady herself took a box of white powder, and laid it on her face, ears, and neck, till her skin looked like a mask. With a camel’s-hair brush she then applied some mixture to her eyelids to make the bright eyes look brighter, the teeth were blackened, or rather reblackened, with a feather brush dipped in a solution of gall-nuts p. 202and iron-filings—a tiresome and disgusting process, several times repeated, and then a patch of red was placed upon the lower lip. I cannot say that the effect was pleasing, but the girl thought so, for she turned her head so as to see the general effect in the mirror, smiled, and was satisfied. The remainder of her toilet, which altogether took over three hours, was performed in private, and when she reappeared she looked as if a very unmeaning-looking wooden doll had been dressed up with the exquisite good taste, harmony, and quietness which characterise the dress of Japanese women.

The Pump handle Lesson

a physician noticed a cluster of cholera cases, traced the outbreak to a certain public water pump, and saved hundreds of lives by simply removing the pump handle so people had to get water from other sources.

easy peasy, and like Galileo, his findings were immediately accepted by the medical community, right? 

t

 

sigh.

the problem was that people were using contaminated water, but back then the theory was that the disease was caused by "miasma": the smell and fumes of rotting garbage, tanneries etc.

The idea that it might be the water, not the stinky air, as the cause of cholera was not understood... until Dr Snow traced a cluster of cases to one area, and figured what they all had in common was that they all got their drinking water from the same public pump

So he figured it was not the smell but the water was bad, removed the pump, and slowed the epidemic.

Such problems continue in today's world: The most notorious was when, after the Hatian earthquake, UN Peacekeepers from Nepal built their latrines too close to a rives, so the germs flowed into the river. The problem? The normal water supply pipes had broken, so people downstream were using river water for drinking.

Ironically, people in the ancient world sort of figured this out, which is why they rarely drank pure water: in one famous passage,  Paul tells Timothy to mix wine with his water "for his stomach's sake"...  

so anyway, at the time Dr Snow removed the pump handle, he was able to publish his findings, even though the germ theory was not a popular theory of disease.

the Lancet notes 

 ...(for) most medical men at the time: miasma, or the stench from decaying vegetable and animal matter, was widely held responsible for epidemic disease.

Snow's On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, first published in 1849, set out the then radical idea that cholera was a disorder of the digestive system not the blood; and that it was contagious and spread through the oral-faecal route, largely through contaminated drinking water.  

Snow's intervention in Broad Street, Soho, in 1854, when he persuaded the authorities to remove the handle from a contaminated pump well, has caught the public imagination, but it was his “Grand Experiment” that same year that secured his huge reputation in epidemiology.

 

During Britain's second cholera epidemic in 1848–49, both the Lambeth and the Southwark and Vauxhall water companies were taking their supplies from the Thames next to where the London sewers were discharged. By the time of the 1854–55 epidemic, however, Lambeth had moved its works up riverout of reach of the sewage. Here, Snow saw, was the perfect means of testing his theory. He compared the numbers of cholera victims whose water was supplied by the two different companies in 1848–49 with the numbers in 1854–55. During 1848–49, the death rates for the two companies were the same, but by 1854, after Lambeth's move, Southwark and Vauxhall's rate was between eight and nine times higher, and in the first 4 weeks of the epidemic, Southwark and Vauxhall customers had a 14-fold higher risk. In 1855, Snow published a much-expanded second editionof On the Mode of Communication of Cholera that included these results. Again he was largely ignored, although by then the idea that polluted water had some part to play in cholera was gaining ground.

the Lancet article notes how his theory was ridiculed at the time, and even his obituary didn't mention this part of his career:

but the point is that they did publish it.

And Dr. Campbell notes that this is in contrast to the censorship of Covid's origins, ignoring/censoring voices that questioned the epidemiological response to the disease, and of allowing poorly analyzed articles that led to the banning cheap medicines that might or might not have worked.

in that last article, on a debunked and retracted article on HCQ, the critical analysis notes:

true researchers generally appreciate a culture of openness, transparency and mutual criticism. It’s considered part of the process of science maturation. This process is achieved through scientific publication as well as interaction in scientific conferences, meetings or any other media.

Dr. Campbell, a nurse educator/public health expert whose you tube channel has been censored at times, points out how these things are important.

why do I bring this up? 

Because the establishment continues to gaslight the public about covid: 

For example, PBS newshour (which your taxes are supporting of course) objects to Trumpieboy appointing him to run the NIH.

President-elect Trump selected a critic of COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates to lead the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is known for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, a 2020 manifesto that advocated allowing COVID to spread in order to achieve herd immunity. It was widely criticized by top health officials.

 italics mine

............................

fast forward to 7 minutes:

Piltdown man and the politics behind science

Historian Tom Holland (no, not the Spiderman guy) discusses the Piltdown man hoax in this video.

This was a famous hoax of the early 20th century, where a skull of a primitive man was discovered in England and celebrated by scientists as the missing link between man and apes. 

Alas, years later it was found to be a fake. A guy looking to be famous and who went around making fake fossils found the skull and presented it to the scientific world. Why? He wanted  Fame.

but the back story is more disturbing than simple forgery: This was the time of scientists embracing fundamentalist ideas of Darwinism, that the strongest/smartest/best survive, and that inferior types of organisms die off. And some embraced this idea, which  spawned  the Eugenics movement that took Darwin's ideas and applied them to humanity.

So if humans evolved in Britain, then the Piltdown man proved the popular theory that the British race was superior to those dirty Irish/African/Italian/Jews who were filling up the slums of London.

Sound familiar? 

A few people objected to the eugenics idea, and some scientists were bold enough to question the validity of the skull, but they were ignored because SCIENCE!

, but what is more disturbing is that some scientists who went along with the hoax knew it was a fake never revealed the truth.

 Indeed, one scientist who was involved in the dig (and found one of the teeth used in the hoax) hinted in his letters that he knew about it, and said nothing.

Yes I am talking about Teilhard de Chardin S.J., beloved by modernist Catholics (PBUH..../s), and someone whose ideas made him the Patron Saint of Transhumanism 

 

So why did he keep quiet? 

Because he was guilty of a joke gone wrong? (the most common opinion). Or was he silent because admitting it was a hoax would lose him friends in the scientific establishment and taint his reputation as a scientist? Or maybe because he "found" a tooth that was an important part of the find, and maybe some might suspect he was involved in the hoax.

So he remained silent about this "discovery" that not just supported evolution, but was used to support racial superiority in Europe with all of the eugenic implications that were being discussed in those days. 

But ideas have consequences. 

He lied, people died. 

Hitler was a big fan of these ideas, and unlike the scientists, actually acted on their ideas.

If the idea of scientists promoting a political agenda as science, lying about it, and ostracizing those who question it sounds familiar, it is because it resembles the coverup of where the covid virus originated. and the complicity of the Medical establishment and major medical journals in pushing this hoax and destroying the careers of those who said no. 

But Teilhard's ideas causing mischief didn't stop there: He went on to write philosophical books on evolution and a deity behind it who was helping humans evolve into a superior type of person.

Drawing upon his devout Christianity, the author argues for a morally idealistic understanding of human nature through which social advancement under the watchful eye of God will eventually lead to a total reconciliation of all things and a final state of absolute collective consciousness, which Chardin titled the "Omega Point".

 if some of this sounds familiar, it is because it's utopian vision overlaps some of what is now being discussed as the Singularity, where man (and machines) become a unity and evolve to a higher power.

The Omega Point is the final step before “Singularity” takes place. Once we achieve (or cross into) Singularity, which will be the first and truly major evolutionary step in mankind, we cease to be humans...

In the near future, computers will surpass our collective intellect, and our only way to maintain our place in the universe will be to merge with them. When transhumanists speak about the Omega Point, they refer to the point when our use of science and technology will improve our human state, making conditions such as disability, suffering, disease, aging, and even death a thing of the past. 

Given the genocides and misery spawned by the utopian ideas of the 20th century, why am I not optimistic when I read such things? 

Sarah Connor, call your office. Cordwainer Smith wants to talk to you.

=========================

My unedited notes and reference on all of this, including a discussion of the covid scandal in Lancet were posted to my medical blog.

The Disney cartoons that helped fight World War II.

Brian Sibley, who has many posts on classical Disney cartoons, has one today about Disney's help with fighting World War II via education and propaganda.

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Disney's massive studio lot in Burbank, California was commandeered by the US Army and many of Walt's animators were moved from making entertainment cartoons to making training films for the Navy. By 1943, almost 90% of Disney's work was related to the war effort, from powerful propaganda films to posters such as this one that points out job hopping can interfere with the supply chain and slow war production.

Youtube has a list of these cartoons.

But my favorite are the ones about controlling malaria, which was a major threat to fighting the war in tropical countries.

Note that back then mosquito control did not use DDT or insecticides.

I should note that the mosquitoes that spread malaria are different from the ones that carry dengue or yellow fever, but the control is the same. And more modern weapons include not just insecticide but electronic zappers indoors, insecticide impregnated nets to sleep under, encouraging using DEET and other insect repellants, screening window etc, ,and more recently, for the dengue mosquito, infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia  bacteria

 

Leprosy isn't what it used to be

Leprosy isn't what it used to be: It is now called Hansen's disease, and is easily treated with antibiotics.

and the cause? It's those dang armadillos.

https://mistralmtn.blogspot.com/2013/10/leprosy.html

But hey, someone at Newsweek notice that there are a few cases in Florida, so the press is having a field day.

from Newsweek 

The U.S. is experiencing cases creep upwards, with the number of infections across the country more than doubling over the past decade, both in people exposed to armadillos and those who aren't.

OH NO. Cases are doubling!

that claim is straight out of the book how to lie with statistics. It makes it seem like it is becoming an epidemic.

Until you notice the actual numbers

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year, there were 159 new cases of leprosy in the U.S. in 2020, around a fifth of which were in Florida. Of the Florida cases, 81 percent were found in central Florida.

I had to get my calculator out to figure it out, and ut turns out this fearful epidemic is...32 cases.

the bad news? Mild cases might be overlooked, since few American doctors have seen a case. Luckily most skin lesions will be biopsied, but mild cases in people with good immune systems might not have a lot of symptoms and might not be recognized by doctors.

Bur once diagnosed, it can be treated and cured. So not an epidemic, and probably not a disease you have to worry about catching.

but hey, it makes a good press, and will increase the hysteria about all those illegal migrants fleeing into the USA. And of course, by saying it is present in Florida, they can hit DeSantis, who is one of the whipping boys of the US MSM.

this is not a new story, of course: This video is from 8 years ago:

 

Smithsonian magazine has a nice write up here.

before you start to worry about epidemics or making armadillo eradication plans, find comfort in this: Though Hansen’s disease, as it is clinically known, annually affects 250,000 people worldwide, it only infects about 150 to 250 Americans. Even more reassuring: up to 95 percent of the population is genetically unsusceptible to contracting it. And these days, it is highly treatable and not nearly as contagious as once believed.

And as for armadillos—the risk of transmission to humans is low. Only the nine-banded armadillo is known to carry the disease. And, most people in the U.S. who come down with the chronic bacterial disease get it from other people while traveling outside the country.,

For a more scientific review of the disease in the west, check out this article.

the good news: It is easily treated with drugs.

The main problem? Few American doctors have seen it.

Despite working in Africa, I have only seen one case, and that was a minor lesion that I biopsied thinking it was skin cancer. Another lesion I suspected and biopsied turned out to be Kaposi's Sarcoma. In that case, one of our elderly sisters had worked with lepers and she said it didn't smell like leprosy, and she was correct.

The reason I stress she was elderly is that they now treat leprosy as out- patients.

In the 1980s I worked with a nun who held clinics that screened people in the villages of Liberia, and traveled periodically to give out medicine for them to take and monitor them for complications. So it is easily treated and cured if found early.

The problem? Once the damage is done, it takes a specialist plastic surgeon or hand surgeon to fix it.

WebMD has a long article about the symptoms of the various forms of Hansen's disease, and the various treatments, including long term treatment with antibiotics, and in some cases the use of the controversial drug thalidomide for skin lesions.

If you are interested in how it was treated in the past:

the 1950 book Miracle at Carville tells the story of a woman with the disease, including the story of the only lepersarium in the US in Carville LA, and about the miracle that happened when the sulfa drug Dapsone was discovered that cured it.

and another recent best seller, Covenant of Water has a subplot about a doctor in India who treated leprosy patients before the treatment was available.

Medical stuff

 articles on my medical blog. Many are longer versions of stuff I posted on this blog.

Refeeding syndrome.

Why do people who were starving drop dead after you feed them?

Pandemics.

Actually just a link to a youtube video. of an audiobook

Ecolab in the Philipines follow up.

The same guys who funded wuhan were trying to fund a lab here in the Philippines.  No I don't know if they are still planning this, but I did find someone in Indonesia who supported such a lab as a good way to make money.

Paratyphoid: Could it kill again?

A longer post about the Cocoliztli virus. that I wrote about on this blog.

Epidemics: We haz that.

reading up on the historical background of the Tale of Genji, and the Haien period of Japan, it is just an essay on disease per se.

Subverting Prepfar.

Again a cross post about how the PC are trying to subvert Prepfar, which gives medicine to those with HIV, to expand to push their sexual agenda. When religious folk object, they are accused of being non compassionate (leaving out the context, including that pushing abortion and contraception and homosexuality will make locals mistrust the program).

Measles deaths.

Yup. Using all that money for covid led to less routing shots for kids, and more measle deaths.

War nursing: Students in those Okinawa caves.

a forgotten episode in World War II.

could Cocoliztli hit again?

  A massive population collapse in Mexico followed the Spanish invasion.

Influenza, small pox, measles, mumps, etc. were the cause and of course these diseases were known to Spanish doctors, and since most Spaniards had had these diseases as children (and survived) they were immune.

But one of the largest epidemics was unknown to both Spanish and Aztec doctors:

Cocoliztli

When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico Some Spanish were affected, but most lived, but most of the Indian populaion died.

More here:

Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico

For years the reason behind this epidemic was unknown, but recent DNA studies show it might have been a paratyphoid germ.

so did it come with the Europeans? Yet a similar outbreak of a hemorrhagic fever occured before the Europeans, 

one should note that a lot of diseases could give similar symptoms of bloody diarrhea, aka dystentary and some of them have rashes.

So was it spread via vermin, or via contaminated water? That is another question since typhoid and paratyphods usually are spread via the 4F routes: Fingers (from not washing hands and then spreading the germ to something you touch), feces (including contamination of the water supply because the outhouse/latrine is near the water supply), food (example chickens and eggs are often contaminated. Luckily cooking destroys the germs, but if the salad was washed with the contaminated water, you could get sick) and flies (insects, fleas on rats, etc.).

A reminder why the Four horsemen of the apocolypse were war, famine, disease, and anarchy.

a similar convergence of famine, war, and anarchy occured with the Philippine revolt against the Spanish and then against the Americans. American Apocolypse  is a book that describes how and why these things were linked, and happened even when the invaders didn't want it to happen and had a crude idea of public health and sanitation.

so should you worry about this disease being brought up from Central America and Mexico with all those immigrants?

 Probably not: since sanitation and antibiotics can stop it's spread. And these germs are already in the USA and cause outbreaks of food poisoning from salads, unclean hands, or improperly cooked chicken. I have also seen cases from those cute tiny pet turtles we used to give to kids.

 

Luckily, antibiotics, and fluids (sometimes IV Fluids are needed) treat the disease. And basic sanitation (including washing hands) can stop the spread.

There is a vaccine for typhoid, but the vaccines for paratyphoid (Salmonella) are available but have problems due to the many variations of the germ.

but when I read about the homeless in the USA, I worry about the poor sanitation will cause spread of disease: it has already resulted in a major Hepatitis A epidemic in San Diego.

----------------------------

update: Rantz: Homeless fecal matter behind explosion of Shigella cases in Portland

CDC article:

Shigella also causes bloody diarrhea and high fever similar to paratyphoid and is spread in a similar manner, and as a doctor I have seen some cases.

and can cause epidemics such as among the soldiers in Gallapoli where 100 thousand got sick, and in Japan, in 1897, where 90 thousand got sick and 20 thousand died, and where  where Dr. Shiga was the one who discovered the germ.

and more recently:

In the second half of the twentieth century, large outbreaks of disease due to Sd1 were still being reported in Central America, with estimates of more than 500,000 cases and 20,000 deaths for the 1969–1973 epidemic, in Africa, where there were an estimated 100,000 cases and 5,000–10,000 deaths in the 1979 epidemic and in Asia.

and earlier epidemics of similar symptoms (dysentary aka bloody flux is also caused by paratyphoid. ameoba, and some viruses) were alas common and caused a lot of deaths before modern medicine. 

and ignore the claims it will get worse with global warming. The spread in Portland is due to the basic failure of the public health system to clean up the streets, and by activists who insist that defecating in the streets is a human right.

Epidemics are scary. Medicine is hard. Real experts are needed.

Right now, I am reading/listening to the Tale of Genji (third time).

This has led me to read about that period in Japanese history, about the introduction of tea, about the varieties of Buddhism that changed from ceremonial and strict to the more popular version that lets non intellectuals to get to heaven by taking Buddha as their Lord and savior without all that complicated rituals.

but anyway, one of the side issues is disease. Lots of child birth deaths, not just in Genji but in other related writings by ladies of those days.

But what about disease?

I am just starting to do research into the healing ceremonies, but one of the issues I ran across was infectious disease

Japan, being an island, and in rural areas in valleys tended to be isolated, was what in public health calls virgin territory: where no one is immune to a disease so the result is a huge number of deaths.

This is what happened to the American Indians for example. Or to the Europeans who got Syphillis in return

So back to Japanese history: This medical article summarized that country's experiences.

there was a major smallpox epidemic

The first recorded smallpox epidemic in Japan was in the eighth century. The smallpox that started in 735 ravaged the country and killed probably about one-third of the entire population. Almost certainly this was a virgin soil epidemic. Later, twenty-eight smallpox epidemics were recorded until 1206. Among these epidemics, there was a clear trend of progressive shortening of the interval between two epidemics: until the year 1000, smallpox visited Japan with the interval of twenty-four years on average, while between 1001 and 1206 the interval became thirteen years.4 (Table 1) By the Tokugawa Period or the early modern period in Japan, smallpox was firmly settled as an endemic disease.5 Statistics from a village show that the village experienced major outbreaks of smallpox about every ten years. (Figure 1) They also show that about ninety-five per cent of the deaths from smallpox were those who were under ten-years-of-age.

I bring this up for two reasons: 

One: that a new disease into a population without immunity could kill a large percentage of the population, and 

TWO: that as time goes on, with each epidemic, fewer die, until it essentially becomes a disease of childhood

The lessons for covid? Well, thanks to the omicron varient, the milder disease took over and once that happened, the epidemic was over.

but the mishandling of covid will make people sceptical when the next bad disease hits.

Sigh.

But anyway: Yes, stop the conspiracy theories about meetings planning for future epidemics: because such epidemics do happen.

But two: remove the nincompoops who mishandled the Covid response.

................

a longer version of this is posted on my medical blog.

Movie of the week

I understand that Kurosawa didn't like this film, but it is an interesting view of medicine in Japan in the early 19th century.

Wartime Nursing in the caves of Okinawa

History lesson of the day: rememberances of High school students drafted to nurse the soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa.

This web page tells their story and has photos of them today.

Just a reminder: War is hell.

So surrender the hostages, arrest the murderers and both sides stop firing expensive missiles at each other in Gaza.

three cheers for brown rice

We grow organic brown rice. It is healthier: more vitamins, more fiber, and no chemical contamination.

But it costs more to grow (weeding by hand instead of herbicide for example) so the poor will continue to eat white rice, much of which is imported form places like Vietnam where they grow three crops a year.

Historically, eating mainly white rice but not supplemented by other foods was not healthy. 

Indeed, White rice led to hundreds of thousands dying... not just in Japan, China, and in India, but in the time of the original Philippine fight for independence and the early occupation which caused disruption of society,and the usual disasters (Taal) much of the rice eaten was imported white rice, so many died of this disease

the epidemic was stopped by using other foods and later fortifying rice with vitamins.

This is an excellent book examining the problems of disease in the early American occupation. It is on Scribd.

I should point out: white rice was considered better in Asian countries because the rich ate it, but it also has a longer shelf life (the oil in brown rice tends to spoil after six to 12 months).

Poor people originally did their own threshing and milling so essentially ate brown rice...but as they moved into cities or to uniculture plantations in rural area, they imported white rice to eat, (either from local farms or from overseas countries who produced it cheaply) and the disease, which was first described by Chinese physicians 4000 years ago, became epidemic.

there are a lot of more intellectual (i.e. boring) lectures on you tube about this disease. 

But this video is shorter and puts the disease into perspective by discussing how white rice almost destroyed the Japanese Navy 

Atlas Obscura has a short article on the history of the disease in Japan LINK and explains why this disease suddenly became epidemic: mechanical milling machines

Machine-milling made polished rice available to the masses, and as the government invested in an army and navy, it fed soldiers with white rice. (White rice, as it happened, was less bulky and lasted longer than brown rice, which could go rancid in warm weather.) Inevitably, soldiers and sailors got beriberi.

 and here, during her travels in rural Japan, Isabelle Bird, who was an adventuress but did have an interest in hospitals and illnesses, describes it thus in one of her letters (numberXX)

In the two villages of Upper and Lower Innai there has been an outbreak of a malady much dreaded by the Japanese, called kak’ké, which, in the last seven months, has carried off 100 persons out of a population of about 1500, and the local doctors have been aided by two sent from the Medical School at Kubota.

 

I don’t know a European name for it; the Japanese name signifies an affection of the legs. Its first symptoms are a loss of strength in the legs, “looseness in the knees,” cramps in the calves, swelling, and numbness. This, Dr. Anderson, who has studied kak’ké in more than 1100 cases in Tôkiyô, calls the sub-acute form.

 

The chronic is a slow, numbing, and wasting malady, which, if unchecked, results in death from paralysis and exhaustion in from six months to three years.

The third, or acute form, Dr. Anderson describes thus. After remarking that the grave symptoms set in quite unexpectedly, and go on rapidly increasing, he says:—“The patient now can lie down no longer; he sits up in bed and tosses restlessly from one position to another, and, with wrinkled brow, staring and anxious eyes, dusky skin, blue, parted lips, dilated nostrils, throbbing neck, and labouring chest, presents a picture of the most terrible distress that the worst of diseases can inflict. There is no intermission even for a moment, and the physician, here almost powerless, can do little more than note the failing pulse and falling temperature, and wait for the moment when the brain, paralysed by the carbonised blood, shall become insensible, and allow the dying man to pass his last moments in merciful unconsciousness.”

Sigh.

there are a lot of more intellectual (i.e. boring) lectures on you tube about this disease.

In the USA, we rarely see the entire syndrome but we do see brain damage from thiamine deficiency in chronic alcoholics:

with all the chronic druggies and alcoholics among the homeless in the USA, one wonders how many of them are developing these diseases, along with other vitamin deficiencies like scurvy, pellgra, or simple protein deficiency.

Sigh.

The sour fruit of Teilhard's evolutionary ideas

 

 a recent article in the New Yorker discussing the Pope who in Mongolia revealed he love Teilhard's philosophy, and that this might be the tipping point for the coming synod

As it turns out, Teilhard’s theology of cosmic spiritual progress is a useful way to understand the challenges that Francis is currently facing

what is left out of that is Jesus.

...His written work, a sustained effort to reconcile Christian theology with the theory of evolution, placed him in the vanguard of twentieth-century theology...

which only shows the problem of theologians who no longer believe all that stuff about Jesus. 

Teilhard’s notion that the earth would someday be surrounded by a complex information system powered by human consciousness has been seen as anticipating the Internet...

 and don't forget his ideas of evolving intelligence is similar to transhumanist ideas, of ubermensch who live forever via genetic engineering or via being linked to computers. 

But Teilhard’s most memorable concept is the notion that “tout ce qui monte, converge,” or “everything that rises must converge”that the various forces of natural evolution and human civilization are all ascending in a pattern of spiritual progress and will converge in a “Point Omega” at the end of time.

But he posited spontaneous evolution, not evolution via labs and CRISPR and computer implants that merge your brain with a computer.

And behind all of this shiny brave new world are the lessons of history.

one of the backstories of war and conquest going back to the ancient world is the logic of conquerers: that they are superior in some way and you peons are inferior, so obey us or die.

 the idea that some people are justified in conquering inferior races can be seen not just in European colonialism and in Rome's history, but in Chinese history, Japanese conquering Korea, the Mongul invasion of India, Genghis Khan, or Shaka Zulu among others.

So the fruits of Teilhard's evolution leads to what? A universe of love, or history repeating itself as the egotitical use his theory to insist science gave them the right to take over the world? and this time, the argument will be it's science so shut up.

(sound familiar?)

Then you have the ideas that Teilhard's ideas rconcile science and evolution with the faith: something was behind evolution and man will evolve to an omega point and voila paradise.

Theologically that has a lot of holes in it that no one wants to talk about.

 uh, Jesus?

Because at a time when Rome was proud to have conquered the world and imposed order and peace on it's minions (just ignore the slaves and massacres of course), God pulled one of his tricks and came to earth as a little baby born in a working class family in a remote area of the empire, and brought another idea: that the creator of the universe loves and cares for those who are least important in the eyes of the world.
that all men are created equal in God's eyes and that we serve him in caring for others....

which brings me back to the Pope and his fake synodality meeting that are prescripted so that everyone approves of his "reforms", which stress global warming, ecology, and sexual liberation for all, and the idea that the church should be an NGO cooperating with the global effort toward peace and a sustainable world, not a church dedicated to preaching Jesus.

This has geopolitical implications...

But the US press which hates conservatives prefers to frame the story in good liberals vs bad conservatives (who are of course white racists)...And I can only shake my head over their racist assumption that only white European and American opinions matter...(Just ignore all these African bishops, who actually believe in Jesus. As the Anglican church can tell you, they aren't exactly going to go along with the modern heresies).

which brings us to another problem with Teilhard: a willingness to tolrate scientific fraud in the Piltdown hoax to support his belief in evolution,  and his ability to ignore the racist assumptions behind the Piltdown hoax... 

Teilhard was involved in the Piltdown man hoax: maybe not behind it but very close, and he never opened his mouth to question it.

And the Piltdown man was pushed by British establishment that loved eugenics and evolution and used the Piltdown man to prove the Brits were the first true humans (i.e. inferior races evolved later and were inferior. see argument here).

Osborn studied the intelligence and physical attributes of modern humans to reveal their distinct racial and evolutionary journeys. He judged the black race to be the oldest and, by implication, the least evolved;

italics mine 

the white race had made the greatest advances. As with Dawn Man, environment did the heavy lifting in shaping the evolution of the races.....

Proof of inherent biological and evolutionary difference between Europeans, Africans, and Asians was of acute importance to Osborn because he believed strongly in keeping these group separate. ...

He co-founded the Galton Society in 1918 and American Eugenics Society in 1922, both dedicated to the advancement of the white race through eugenics. These groups sponsored “Fitter Family” contests, anti-miscegenation laws, and sterilization drives for unfit groups and “inferior” races.

Buck vs Bell, anyone? 

and other ideas morphed from this small seed: and alas every conservative site echoes this type of racism against immigration:

Osborn was also very politically active, passionately lobbying for the Immigration Act of 1924 that drastically limited immigration from Asia and Southern and Eastern Europe.

ah, but what about now, when we can make designer babies? Back then, "Nature had shaped each human race into an evolutionary form suited to its specific environment" was the idea, but in today's world we actually can do it ourselves.

CRISPR an;yone? 

A recent book about Teilhard work with the Peking man (not discovered by him) seems to say it was this discovery that gave him the idea of evolution of man. But his involvement with the Piltdown hoax suggests he already had that idea and merely wanted evidence to support his preconceived idea. Fast forward to Peking man.

A spectacular example of erectus was discovered in 1929 by Chardin and the David crew in China’s Zhoukoudian caves. There they unearthed the fossil dubbed Peking Man—“as typical a link between man and the apes as one could wish for,” the priest wrote exultantly. (This vital find, along with many other fossils, vanished in 1941 during the Japanese occupation of China.)

how convenient.

Smithsonian magazine discusses the PIltdown hoax

and this article notes discusses Teilhard's part in the hoax.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit paleontologist, priest, and philosopher. In the figures published in articles in 1943 and 1951, he attempted to draw a "plausible schematic reconstruction of the natural connections between fossil men" and a "phyletic composition of the human group".

 

I draw attention to Teilhard's reference to Eoanthropus ("Piltdown Man") in small print in his figure that was first printed in 1943. Most suspiciously, there is no reference to this (supposedly important) genus in the associated text, nor is there any reference whatsoever to "Piltdown Man" in the article published in 1951.

 

Even as early as January 1913, Teilhard may have been aware that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax or joke, artificially associating a human cranium with a modified orangutan mandible. A new suspect is Edgar Willett (rather than Charles Dawson). Teilhard may have been an advisory accomplice in a joke that went seriously wrong.

so it was a joke? so it's okay?

Science magazine has more about Teilhard's involement and continues to say it was a joke, because of course, one can not be forgiven to be involved in lying in science, but hey, a joke can be forgiven.

Dawson's calculated chicanery underscores why studying Piltdown Man is still important to modern science, De Groote says. Although such a brazen hoax is unlikely to occur again in physical anthropology because of the sophistication of modern analytical techniques, she says, there's still a danger of being too quick to accept interpretations that adhere to what scientists expect to find.. ...

sound familiar?  

"Piltdown Man sets a good example of the need for us to take a step back and look at the evidence for what it is," she says, "and not for whether it conforms to our preconceived ideas."

So the debate about Teilhard and the Piltdown hoax also could be discussed in the distortions about covid (or global warming) where scientists who go against the shaky science are silenced, not just by their collegues but in scientific journals... 

and like the Piltdown man hoax, this is not about science per se but about censoring ideas 

Who is responsible for vaccine side effects?

ManilaStandard reports: Some of those responsible for the premature use of an experimental Dengue vaccine might finally go to trial

The best analysis of this controversy is at SciAmerica, but Wikipedia also has a shorter summary. I have a longer discussion of this on my medical blog.

But the controversy comes down to: IF a vaccine will save many lives, but a few who get it will die, do you give the vaccine?

This has been argued for over a century, when prominent people like GBShaw were anti smallpox vaccine. But smallpox vaccine kills less than 1 percent, but the disease kills at least 30 percent. 

A newer vaccine safety profile shows even fewer problems, but enough that it is used only for the military or those who might be in contact with smallpox: or more recently, for those at risk for being infected with monkeypox.

 The UN wiped out smallpox by vaccinating everyone, even in dangerous areas. So now the only smallpox virus around is in a few biological laboratories... The main worry is that some crazy will release it as bioterrorism. 

But fast forward to today.

Dengue fever is a problem and a growing one.

The main problem: The first episode is minor but a repeat episode might give you a complicated case of Dengue (been there, done that). And if you never had dengue, the vaccine itself will increase your chance of having a complicated case.

A lot of parents here became anti all vaccines after the deaths of some children after the Dengue vaccine (and some of these deaths, but not all, were from complications of teh vaccine). The end result was lack of trust in all vaccines, so childred ended up dying of measles. etc.

Sigh.

But dengue vaccine is not the only one where the harm from the vaccine might be worse than the disease: 

Dr. C discusses the FDA wanting everyone even kids to get the new covid shot (and notes in the UK it is only recommended for elders and high risk folks).

And wonders why.

Sigh.