Where’s My Hand Sanitizer?
Today is your lucky day – I have some extremly useful, likely life-saving, information to share with you. Everyone isn’t crazy enough to go to medical school, so it’s a good thing there are bloggers like me to save you from the deadly microbes of the Earth that only the board-reviewing med students know about.
Things You’re Doing That Could Kill/Seriously Injure You:
Petting Prairie Dogs
 |
|
Yersinia pestis, AKA – Causative Agent of the Black Death
|
Grocery Shopping
 |
| Those nifty mister things in the produce aisle? Deadly. If you must grocery shop, wear a Legionella-protective mask. |
Gardening
 |
| Sporothrix-induced ascending lymphangitis waiting to happen. |
Owning Cats
 |
| Toxoplasma gondii laden poo. |
Feeding Pigeons
 |
| Other than being generally disgusting, they carry Cryptococcus neoformans, which can give you a nasty meningitis if your immune system’s not in tip-top shape. |
Sooooo, med student/doctor/microbiologist/nerd friends, what’s your favorite microbe? I know there are a TON of slightly amusing germy-things I didn’t choose to illustrate here, tell me the ones that have stuck with you!
Images courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: p_a_h, Andrew in Durham, erix!, eviltomthai, eggybird
Images courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: p_a_h, Andrew in Durham, erix!, eviltomthai, eggybird