#the pathogens

[pangur-and-grim]

I had two colonies! my scabers were in a beautiful planted terrarium with a bark wall. unfortunately after I went on a trip, they suffered a colony collapse - I'd asked my housemate to spritz them with water in my absence, but I'm guessing she either spritzed more or less than I usually do, and the shock killed them.

a third of them survived this event, so I gave the terrarium away to someone with invertebrate knowledge.

and then there's my vulgare colony! they thrived for years - at one point, there were so many that the ground oscillated like water when I lifted the lid up. and then.....within a month this year, they all died. no clue why. I didn't change any part of my care.

unfortunately, if I don't understand how I killed them, then I won't be able to prevent their deaths in the future, so I'm done with invertebrates for now. they brought me a lot of joy while they lasted, though!

[bogcreacher]

dap me up husband!!

[alostwanderernotfound]

PANDEMICS- Hostile Power Takeover? Learnings on Urban & Domestic Warfare, “Disease: Bacteria Part 1, Fundamental Considerations”:

Let’s say the hostile power is more technologically advanced & half robot/half machine or full machine, so seemingly unkillable. Organic beings are very vulnerable to having disease used as a weapon against them.

Disease can be a major benefit to this type of hostile power & it would be an incredibly powerful weapon. This allows the destruction of an organic-based domestic population & it can also allow the harvesting of resources to build new bodies and/or reuse of the entire body depending on the disease process.

There are many insidious ways diseases develop & spread. This process DOES NOT just occur in a laboratory. Remember that there are many different “groupings” of entities we refer to as pathogens or things with the ability to cause disease.

Bacteria are an important one. Bacteria & other pathogens can reproduce by multiple means. Here I’m going to speak about bacteria with the capacity to do Bacterial conjugation. This involves passing characteristic between two different bacteria similar to how sexual reproduction can pass on characteristics. This is overall an important conversation because a lot of the most complex & common life forms in our daily lives also spread these characteristics through similar principles through sexual reproduction.

> A lot of bacteria to our awareness are able to pass on characteristics. Bacterial DNA contains the “instructions”/“resources” for bacteria to either have or not have characteristics.

-Bacterial conjugation for example allows one bacteria to attach to a second bacteria & send resources to the second bacteria. After this process, the second bacteria is able to transform and display the characteristics transferred to it. Example: Bacteria A can change colors like a chameleon. Bacteria B cannot change color. Once Bacteria A attaches to Bacteria B and they are compatible, Bacteria A passes on resources to Bacteria B. Bacteria B then acquires the ability to change color. Bacteria B now can change color & has attainted the same advantage as originally only bacteria A had. Now Bacteria A and Bacteria B can change color like a chameleon.

- The other way characteristics form & occur in a bacterial population is through mutation. If a bacteria’s DNA is altered or mutates then it can produce a bacteria with new traits & characteristics. Radiation for example, like from X-rays, often causes mutations. Sometimes mutations do “nothing” we can really perceive with our eyes. But overtime, they will eventually create large changes and can produce huge benefits for bacteria. For example: A bacteria could have always have been wiped out from nuclear weapons then overtime from mutations it can acquire the ability to survive living inside an area with nuclear radiation.

-This is a very important concept to fully understand so that you can become cognizant of how insidious this process is when discussing what bioterrorism in the modern world can look like. Pandemics are not caused just from mysterious lab leaks. The practices we do everyday are still contributing to the next pandemic occurring.

-This also gives everyone a better understanding of how MRSA or an antibiotic resistant bacteria really was “made” inside our hospitals.

> Bacteria can possibly have random or genetically engineered characteristics.

-If there are 100 random bacteria on an isolated surface that formed there naturally, some will have favorable characteristics to cause severe disease. But, some bacteria will not have those characteristics to cause severe disease. The bacteria lacking these deadly characteristics, but are still part of the same family of bacteria, would be considered weaker pathogens (weaker pathogen meaning they would cause less severe disease in organic beings).

-**But it is important to remember, If someone purposefully put bacteria down on a surface there is a chance it will not be a random distribution in strength of bacteria & they will mostly all be bacteria with strong characteristics. That group would probably be closer to 100 out of 100 of the bacteria carrying the deadly characteristic.**

>There are 2 main basic premises (which can be further subdivided and added onto when discussing what makes pathogens strong, but for now I’m discussing a more fundamentals explanation) we consider when determining bacterial pathogen strength: number of bacteria & the amount of deadly/harmful characteristics each bacteria possess.

-Reducing the overall number of bacteria in a group of random bacteria does not always mean you make a pathogen less strong. (Example: Purposefully killing 50 bacteria out of 100 and now there are only 50 bacteria in the group.)

If you destroy many of the weaker bacteria & only leave strong bacteria to reproduce, pathogens overtime can get stronger & more deadly. So, by destroying only the weaker bacteria in a group of bacteria, you slowly make pathogens stronger through this natural process & it doesn’t have to occur inside of a laboratory. To make a bacterial pathogen less strong by focusing on decreasing the overall number of those bacteria that exist in our world, you would also have to consider how many of each strength you eliminate. This is because we currently we do not use practices that wipe out groups of bacteria 100%, so we must consider these two elements together instead of separate when evaluating pathogen strength. Example: Lets say there are 100 bacteria and you wipe out 90. Bacteria A can cause humans to be paralyzed. Bacteria B cannot paralyze humans. Out of the 10 bacteria still alive, if all 10 are Bacteria A then you have eliminated the chance people would be infected with the less severe version of the disease, with Bacteria B. In the long term Bacteria A now has a strong chance to reproduce & when Bacteria A infects people it would then cause paralysis in everyone & the population could collapse. In another scenario, consider if you wiped out 90 bacteria out of 100, but you did it purposefully. Out of the 10 bacteria left, 9 were Bacteria that were Bacteria B & couldn’t cause paralysis. The last 1 out of the 10 left was Bacteria A. Then when those 10 bacteria reproduced it effectively helps “dilute” this negative characteristic in this bacterial family. Based off randomness & probability, when there this group reproduces to the size of 20 bacteria only approximately 2 of them may carry Bacteria A’s paralytic characteristic & 18 will carry bacteria B’s characteristic that does not cause paralysis. So, even though we can’t stop the bacteria number from growing, since we mindfully intervened we can still divert the trajectory of the pathogen from becoming a pathogen with the ability to become “pandemic level” and/or very very harmful.

>Two ways pathogens can get weaker is by lowering the amount of bacteria in the world & by lowering its severe disease characteristics, but this these two categories have an important interplay.

-This is an oversimplified explanation of how disease spreads & evolves, but the fundamental principles are VERY important to the overall understanding of what’s occurring. Imagine a group of bacteria you count has 100 total bacteria. 50 of them carry a gene to cause paralysis in humans & 50 do not carry this gene. When 100 people come in contact with the 50/50 bacteria distribution and get sick only 50 out of 100 of the people get paralyzed. This allows the other 50 people time to work on vaccinations & interventions to stop everyone from eventually being paralyzed.

-But, if you kill the 50 out of the 100 bacteria that do not carry the gene for paralysis then your bacteria group went from 100 to a total of 50 in size. In the short term the spread of the disease is likely to go down, as it is less likely people will randomly spread 50 objects instead of 100. BUT, those 50 bacteria with the gene to cause paralysis will only reproduce with other bacteria that also have that gene. So this bacteria, since you wiped out the 50 that don’t cause paralysis, now ALL cause paralysis & anyone who comes in contact with this bacteria strain will get paralyzed. So eventually with time the group of 50 bacteria will reproduce to 100 & spread at the same rate as they were originally, but now they cause more harm to people.

>When you unknowingly touch a colony of bacteria on an object or life form, you pick up a random sample of random “strength” of bacteria.

>****PLEASE READ: you can ALSO pickup a sample of bacteria that is all “strong bacteria” but this is NOT usually a natural occurrence you will see & is suggestive someone or something altered the bacteria and purposefully put those bacteria there. A group of bacteria that looks like it formed organically vs one that was purposefully placed there can be differentiated with taking samples of surfaces and people & counting how many strong bacteria vs weak bacteria there are, but we as a population do not regularly test for this in this way. Due to this I’m going to speak with the viewpoint of natural bacteria groups that have a gradient of “strengths”. In an ideal world we would identity groups of bacteria that have gradients of strength of bacteria vs groups of all similar strength, as interventions to stop them from becoming strong pathogens work DIFFERENTLY.)

>After you touch those bacteria they attempt to multiply and stay alive on you. Then if you touch other things they can be placed on another surface or thing. Sometimes they are placed on other surfaces in an environment or you touch your body & they are placed closer to an entrance to the inside or your body & then they are able to enter your body.

-This process will cause one of the following to occur: bacteria will stay in the area you touched & colonize it, they will die when attempting to enter the body, the bacteria will give you a disease , or in some cases the bacteria will live symbiotically inside you & help your body. If a bacteria lives symbiotically with you & does not cause harm then we do not refer to that as a pathogen, but rather just as a bacteria.

>Anytime you wipe out a group of bacteria by taking out 100% it causes that pathogen to get weaker overall, but the issue is that we do not do interventions that wipe out 100%.

-Currently anytime you clean an object in the hospital with a sanitizing wipe, you always kill less than 100% of the bacteria. This leaves behind a certain % of bacteria & they will be the strongest of that group of bacteria, because they were able to live even though you applied a cleaning product on them. This means the strongest bacteria left, even though there are less after cleaning, are now reproducing over and over again & getting stronger.

-So, when there is an environment with a large amount of bacteria variability (so all these new patients with new exposures to new bacteria that travel and touch things all the time), with shared equipment, with not 100% effective methods to destroy pathogens, & this long list of variables, we slowly produce very strong & deadly pathogens inside of hospitals.

-IF someone purposefully puts deadly bacteria ontop of a surface inside a hospital and it is a group of 100 strong & identical or cloned bacteria with no difference in genetics then wiping them out through imperfect cleaning will overall reduce pathogen deadliness. This is because there are no “stronger” pathogens vs “weaker” pathogens. They are all the same strength in this example and therefore will always get weaker when you reduce their number because they won’t reproduce to be more deadly.

>People often think when people are trying to cause them harm that would only occur when someone makes a pathogen in a lab & then deceptively goes and places some near you. This is not accurate.

-With knowing this do you see how for a hostile power there is actually LESS incentive to going through with all that work & instead a hostile power can abuse the system to cause harm? If you expect biological warfare to ONLY come out of a lab, this means you would be looking for the wrong patterns of behavior & pathogens will spiral out of control.

A lot of practices we currently use now unfortunately heavily contribute to this process that causes pathogens to get stronger.

[tordoise-x3]

I love you so much birkin sorry i made you more horrific

[vi-138]

[hellsitegenetics]

I just wanna say that as someone who has a bug hyperfixiation rn and enjoys making ocs based off of bugs that this blog is like, a character design idea haven to me at this point because of all the bugs. Thank you for your service.

String identified: t aa a tat a a a g at a ag c a g tat t g , a caact g a a t at t t ca a t g. Ta c.

Closest match: Balneolaceae bacterium isolate c63fa63d-abcb-44aa-a049-ecdd770e9aed genome assembly, chromosome: 1 Common name: The Balneolaceae family of bacteria.

(This organism has no associated image. Good luck making a character design out of that.)

[grrlscientist]

First case of human contracting H5N1 BirdFlu from a dairy cow confirmed: ‘The virus has jumped’

Scientists confirmed that a human has contracted the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus🦠 — not from a bird🐓, but a dairy🥛 cow🐄 🛟

[givingyouarandompathogen]

@i-give-you-a-fish

I'll trade you a pathogen for a fish :D

Pathogen assigned: Anisakis simplex

Cause of anisakiasis, type of nematode

(Image from Wikipedia article)

Spread via: Consumption of undercooked salmon, mackerel, squid etc.

[pathogencomic]

Prologue (start)

Previous

Next

[frownyalfred]

Batman doesn't cover his full face with the cowl because backup plan #73b includes strategic biting. imagine fighting Batman and he just leans forward and takes a chunk out of your neck. you're telling me that wouldn't stop any and all fighting right then and there?

[so-true-overdue]

Vaccines: The Unsung Heroes of Modern Medicine

Imagine a world where smallpox still reigned supreme, where polio paralyzed thousands annually, and where measles was a rite of passage, sometimes fatal. Yet, here we are, in a world where vaccines have valiantly vanquished these threats.

The paramountcy of vaccines in the annals of medical triumphs cannot be overstated. They are the quintessence of human ingenuity, a testament to our ability to combat nature's most insidious adversaries. Through the meticulous administration of vaccines, we have consigned diseases like smallpox to the historical archives and reduced the scourge of polio to a mere whisper in the annals of modern afflictions.

Statistically, the efficacy of vaccines is irrefutable. The World Health Organization estimates that vaccines prevent 2-3 million deaths annually. Consider the measles vaccine: a marvel of medical science that has reduced global measles deaths by 73% between 2000 and 2018. Similarly, the introduction of the polio vaccine has brought the incidence of polio down by 99%, from 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 33 reported cases in 2018.

Yet, amidst this triumph, there exists a cacophony of dissent. The sanctimonious detractors, draped in the garb of skepticism, pontificate about the perils of vaccination. They brandish anecdotes of adverse reactions as if they were incontrovertible evidence, ignoring the overwhelming preponderance of scientific data. Yes, vaccines, like all medical interventions, are not devoid of risks. However, the incidence of serious adverse reactions is exceedingly rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that severe allergic reactions occur in about 1 in a million doses of vaccines. To put this in perspective, the likelihood of being struck by lightning in any given year is approximately 1 in 500,000—twice as likely as experiencing a severe vaccine reaction.

The irony is palpable. The very individuals who eschew vaccines on the grounds of potential harm are often the beneficiaries of the herd immunity afforded by the vaccinated majority. Their sanctimony is not only misplaced but perilously undermines public health efforts. The resurgence of measles in recent years, driven by declining vaccination rates, is a stark reminder of the consequences of such misguided dogma.

In conclusion, vaccines are the silent sentinels, safeguarding humanity against the ravages of infectious diseases. Their unparalleled efficacy, coupled with an exceptionally low incidence of adverse reactions, renders the anti-vaccine rhetoric not only scientifically unfounded but also morally untenable. The sanctimonious naysayers, in their misguided zeal, imperil the very fabric of our collective health. Let us, therefore, celebrate vaccines for what they truly are: the unsung heroes of modern medicine.

[just-someone-online]

Lowkey, I think one of my favorite little things about Rescue Bots is how we get to learn a little more about Optimus when he shows up. Like, not war stuff or Orion Pax stuff, but just little things about Optimus.

One of his favorite Earth stories is The Little Engine That Could. Does he read in his spare time and if so, how did he find Little Engine?

He tells Heatwave that he has also been learning from humans. What has he learned? The phrase "Nothing much, double dutch." Who the fuck taught him that? My money's on Miko. Jack would not have the audacity to add that to Prime's vernacular.

He has a motherfuckin' rocket powered car carrier capable of hauling four bots. And since Team Prime had four four-wheelers on the team prior to Darkness Rising, you could reasonably assume that he has used it with Cliff, Bee, Bulk, and Ratch

Optimus knows what a pogo stick is. That isn't anything noteworthy, I just think it's funny.

[bogcreacher]

[amiactuallydoingthisblog]

Alright, everybody, let me introduce you to Vocivos pathogenesis, the causative agent behind the void sickness. (aka I want to talk about how diseases work for 500 words) Content warnings for below the cut: discussion of diseases and infections, as well as a bit of body horror at the end. As a treat.

So, in my mind, Vocivos pathogenesis (Vocivos, L. adj, empty, relating to the void; Pathogenesis, Gr. n, mode of production or the development of the disease) is somewhere in between a virus and a bacteria. Like a bacteria, I think it can survive and reproduce outside of a host, and live in the soil/stone of the islands. However, like a virus, I think it can reproduce by hijacking a cell's existing machinery to replicate its own molecules.

Vocivos pathogenesis's reservoir is originally the void. That is where the microbes live and reproduce, acting more like bacteria than anything. Eventually, they are drawn upwards by the magic present in the upper islands, like how opposite charges attract, and start to live in the ground of the lower islands. Despite being drawn towards the magic, it also prevents them from spreading, which means that they are (currently) sort of stuck there.

Exposure to V. pathogenesis occurs when any mob or person makes skin contact with the ground. You don’t need to have an open wound to get an skin infection, and so any time a creeper/spider/skeleton/etc is walking on already contaminated ground there’s a chance for V. pathogenesis to infect them.

Infection starts in the skin. V. pathogenesis invades the skin cells, now acting like a virus rather than a bacterium, and starts multiplying inside the cells, and then just waits. The skin is where V. pathogenesis enters the host, and so that is where we start seeing symptoms (most notably, the black coloration of the infected) first. Because the microbe itself is void-black, as soon as it exists in the infected cells in high enough concentrations, we can start to see the infected turn black.

The infection quickly spreads to the bloodstream, most likely by entering the capillaries first and the veins to travel up towards the heart. This causes the black veins that Virgil noticed on the mind map. As the skin infection is starting to turn the host from the outside in, the infection in the blood is doing the same from the inside out.

Once V. pathogenesis has infected all of the host, it can start changing things. Every cell has all of your DNA in it, and the only reason you don’t have eyes on your arms is because different transcription factors told your arm cells which sections of DNA to express. V. pathogenesis starts affecting the release of transcription factors, telling the cells that would normally make skin or muscles to instead make eyes.

It also makes some more drastic changes, specifically up in the skull. V. pathogenesis causes the systematic weakening and then breakage of the skull, then uses your body’s already-existing process to reform the skull to have as many eye sockets as it wants. At this point, the infection has basically run its course, leaving a sort of undead void-possessed mob in its wake.

TL;DR: Vocivos pathogenesis lives in both the void and the soil of the lower islands, infects mobs through the skin, and eventually rearranges their bones.

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

visually and conceptually the most hannibal ass snack that i eat is watermelon chunks topped with little bits of prosciutto