Plague Inc.

Plague Inc.

I'd like to present Plague Inc. to you guys.
It is an Android game, available for free in the Google Play Store/Android Market.
It's also available in the iTunes store for Apple devices :)
I've been told that it is similar to the Pandemic flash game, although I haven't tested it.

I also happened to find the Official Cinematic Trailer. Oh la la!

More lab!

Blegh. As much as I like prodding and coloring bacteria on microscope slides, I can't say lab is very enjoyable when you have to get through the snow to get to college.
It's -6 degrees Celsius here in the Netherlands, and anyone living far up north or land-inwards is going to laugh at me for being a wuss. But I'm Asian. I dislike extreme colds.
I dislike having the cold as well, as do I dislike having a pesky ache and elevated heart rate of unknown origins.

Lab trinkets!

Anthrax

This has GOT to be one of the scariest diseases around, shame my high school only mentioned it once.

There were/are several 'anthrax islands' around, with Gruinard Island being one of the best-known islands. Apparently, there are 0 inhabitants, as weaponized anthrax was being tested on this island on sheep. Within days, all animals died of respiratory distress and shock, showing anthrax's potential as a biowarfare weapon. They burned down the island to decontaminate it, but when they reintroduced sheep, anthrax quickly returned.
Sometime ago, they sprayed formaldehyde mixed with seawater on the island, and upon reintroducing a flock of sheep, no animals were infected with anthrax, making it a safe island again.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Bacterial
Causative agent: Bacillus anthracis 
Incubation time: about 8 days
Antibiotics of choice: Ciprofloxacin
Toxins / Factors: Lethal factor (LF), Edema factor (EF), Protective antigen (PA) (AB)
Bioterrorism agent category: A
Vaccine available: Yes (Toxoid: contains inactive toxins)[1]

Dutch Vaccination Programme & HPV

Hey folks,
It's been a while.
Been studying anatomy and physiology for a while now. College really takes away all your time..
Either way, I'm working on a PBL assignment at the moment, and I figured I might as well put it online.

Although it only deals with the Human Papillomavirus(HPV) and the Dutch's way of dealing with immunization, it might just cover some information you might need for whatever assignment.

Roleplay situation: Aside from studying Health & Life Sciences, I also happen to work at a consulting bureau. I'm visiting some kid named Bram, whose parents don't have their children vaccinated for religious reasons. Their kid has a nasty cough, which sounds achingly similar to a dog's barking.
After I'm done visiting the family, I wonder whether my little sister should get a HPV shot or not..

Proof of vaccination

Last update: November 26th, 2012

Plague

Blackened skin. Swollen lymph nodes. Rats and other pests. Fleas. Ew.
You know what I'm talking about. The Plague.
It's caused more human deaths than any other infectious disease, save for malaria and tuberculosis.[1]

It's caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium.
It's primary host is the rat, and the intermediate hosts between rats and humans are fleas. (Guess that gives me another reason to lay down rat/mouse traps.)
Since it primarily infects rats, but sometimes infects humans as well, it is a zoonotic disease. (disease which primarily infects animals, although it can also cause disease in humans)
Infected rats generally die soon after infection, but the survivors develop a chronic condition in which the animal can keep transferring the disease to other organisms.[1]

Alright, my little pet hamster doesn't carry fleas,
but that isn't the case for every pet rodent..

Yersinia pestis can cause multiple forms of plague:
- Sylvatic plague
- Bubonic plague
- Septicemic plague
- Pneumonic plague

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli

Wooot, spare-time-post! No, seriously. My crazy timetable decided to give me 3.5hrs off between classes. Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to do? Oh wait. My teachers finally checked my writing assignment on EHEC. 8.5 out of 10 pts, hehe..

Well, let's get to the point.

Salmonellosis

Mhm.. Smoked Salmon..

I like salmon. Especially smoked salmon. It's also one of the only kinds of fish I'll eat without fussing. Until my stomach started acting up after eating smoked salmon for lunch.
I figured it was because my salmon was several days past the "Use By.." date. Either that, or it contained some pathogen. But the diarrhea was only short-lived and very mild, so I continued eating salmon, because smoked salmon is so very expensive (yeah, yeah, I'm a cheapskate, I know). I figured I was immune to the pathogen anyways, because when I continued eating the salmon on a daily basis, it never bothered me anymore.
2 weeks later, somewhere between the 4th and 6th of October, I received a letter from the store telling me that it might have been infected with Salmonella. Oops?