Three sick mice from a research facility at the University of Medicine and Dentistry can't be found. Escaped? Stolen? Eaten?
I seem to remember a movie that went along the lines of escaped animal with bubonic plauge, but that ended rather badly. True to the nature of made for t.v. movies lots and lots of people die in yucky ways.
Luckily the authorities in this case have rated the danger as minimal at most, so I don't think N.J. will end up with hospitals filled with the Black Death.''
And it is treatable if caught in time. I'm fairly certain the hospitals are aware and prepared for the small but unlikely possiblity of someone showing these symptoms. (from the CDC site on the plague)
Q. What are the signs and symptoms of plague?
A. The typical sign of the most common form of human plague is a swollen and very tender lymph gland, accompanied by pain. The swollen gland is called a "bubo" (hence the term "bubonic plague"). Bubonic plague should be suspected when a person develops a swollen gland, fever, chills, headache, and extreme exhaustion, and has a history of possible exposure to infected rodents, rabbits, or fleas.
So I really wouldn't get too worked up about it, though I'd be more vigilant than normal if I were living in NJ near the area where said mice may have escaped, and I or a family member developed flu like symptoms.
I'd also be more vigilant about ridding myself of mice.
And fleas, they're the vector between mice and humans.
It's quite treatable in this day and age. I wouldn't worry about a Black Death scenario.
Posted by: owlish at September 19, 2005 04:50 PM