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San Francisco, 11:07 AM
Sun Nov 8
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #epidemic more →

    Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?

    Eleven Visions of Life After the Great Epidemic

    More Mad Cow Disease on the Way, Say Scientists

    Doctors Discover Rise in "Self-Embedding" Disorder

    Students Quarantined in University As Epidemic Unfolds

    Flesh-Eating, Sexually-Transmitted Bacteria Hit San Francisco and Boston

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Jrsy Devil's Advocate® Jrsy Devil's Advocate®
    10/09/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    Life is a communicable disease...
     Reply
    Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was starred Jrsy Devil's Advocate® was unstarred
    Image of Brdf Brdf
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    They raise the key question themselves at the end of the paper: "Is XMRV infection a causal factor in the pathogenesis of CFS or a passenger virus in the immunosuppressed CFS patient population?" Given the presence of other viruses like herpes in many CFS patients, the latter seems like the default assumption. Time for some animal models, I guess.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Brdf was starred Brdf was unstarred
    Image of twophrasebark twophrasebark
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    68 percent for Chronic Fatigue patients versus 4 percent for healthy patients is a pretty big difference.

    I'd say they've found an important clue.
     Reply
    twophrasebark was starred twophrasebark was unstarred
    Image of gryftir gryftir
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    There have been multiple virus's linked to Chronic Fatigue, as well as evidence of genetic predisposition and the mechanism seems to be an overactive immune response. It's likely it's a combination of factors, that what we call chronic fatigue is actually many different combinations of genetics, physiological factors and viral infections that cause the body to respond in a similar way.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment gryftir was starred gryftir was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    It's not very infectious -- I been sexin' up this guy for years before and after coming down with it and he's fine. Which is typical.

    The retrovirus theory has been around for quite a while, but nobody knows which one. Probably in conjunction with some other virus, on top of a genetic predisposition.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of Makidian Makidian
    10/08/09

    @Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: The way you worded the beginning of that is just hilarious and full of win. You made my day.
     Reply
    Makidian was starred Makidian was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    10/08/09

    @Makidian: Hee! Your compliment made mine.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of TKOtheKDR TKOtheKDR
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    Vince Lombardi discovered this? Then I say we change the name of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Lambeau Lethargy. Cellular Favrentropy? Packereticulosis?
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Edited by TKOtheKDR at 10/08/09 2:47 PM TKOtheKDR was starred TKOtheKDR was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    The chronic fatigue I feel is due to the fact I have incurable HEP-C and it is slowly killing my liver....boohoo
    So I always feel r eal tired and don't have much energy.My body is trying to kill a virus that has spewed millions of little virii throughout my body and it ain't able to do stop the virus.
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    Correlation does not prove causation; but it's enough to warrant further investigation.

    I was going to say it's enough to get a warrant... which would mean pretty soon some white blood cells would be kicking XMRV's doors in and asking it to come down to the station.

    Phew. I'm really, really tired now. Fatigued, even.
     Reply
    Edited by Anekanta - Go Play! at 10/08/09 2:22 PM Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    Yes, it's true, hanging out with chronically lazy people will make you lazy too.
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of Anekanta - Go Play! Anekanta - Go Play!
    10/08/09

    @EBone: That seems a little unfair. I don't think it's merely laziness. The article says human organs are affected, and the study mentioned suggests it's caused by a virus.
     Reply
    Anekanta - Go Play! was starred Anekanta - Go Play! was unstarred
    Image of EBone EBone
    10/08/09

    @Anekanta: Sorry, I didn't use my sarcasm slashies

    //sarcasm
     Reply
    EBone was starred EBone was unstarred
    Image of kolacek kolacek
    10/08/09

    @EBone: I am dying from LOLs. Thank you :)
     Reply
    EBone promoted this comment kolacek was starred kolacek was unstarred
    Image of twophrasebark twophrasebark
    10/08/09

    @EBone: I still don't understand your comment even with the sarcasm tag.
     Reply
    twophrasebark was starred twophrasebark was unstarred
    Image of Bigdamnhero Bigdamnhero
    10/08/09

    @EBone: I don't hang out with lazy people. 'Cause then you have to pick up the phone, and then talk to them... then you gotta take a shower, and put on pants, and by that point I'm just like, f*ck it.
     Reply
    EBone promoted this comment Bigdamnhero was starred Bigdamnhero was unstarred
    Image of Vulcan Has No Moon Vulcan Has No Moon
    10/08/09

    @EBone: I knew my damn co-workers were responsible for me not wanting to drag my ass into work, but I didn't know the @$$-holes gave me a disease!
     Reply
    EBone promoted this comment Vulcan Has No Moon was starred Vulcan Has No Moon was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    Chronic fatigue is a disease which affects human organs

    Is there a disease which does not affect human organs?
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Annalee Newitz Annalee Newitz
    10/08/09

    @Pope John Peeps II: *sigh*
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz was starred Annalee Newitz was unstarred
    Image of Pope John Peeps II Pope John Peeps II
    10/08/09

    @Annalee Newitz: Hee hee. I'm such a JERK! hahaha.
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II was starred Pope John Peeps II was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    10/08/09

    In reply to Is Chronic Fatigue a Communicable Disease?
    After presenting the paper, Dr. Lombardi went on to state that finding the virus isn't everything, it's the only thing
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    10/08/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: Thank you.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    10/08/09

    @Dr Emilio Lizardo: that quote was originally of henry russell sanders but is often and incorrectly attributed to lombardi.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of NotChoinski NotChoinski
    04/28/09

    In reply to Eleven Visions of Life After the Great Epidemic
    Seaking of David Cronenberg, another one of his movies has been in late night cable rotation: Shivers.


    Its like Rabid except instead of a virus its a parasite, and the infected turn from laid back swinging singles into aggressive swinging singles.

     Reply
    NotChoinski was starred NotChoinski was unstarred
    Image of naugahydeinplainsight naugahydeinplainsight
    04/28/09

    In reply to Eleven Visions of Life After the Great Epidemic
    Another vote for 12 Monkeys and the original Andromeda Strain. If we're adding TV, what about the Star Trek first season ep "Miri" (OK I looked it up) when the kids are all ancient and eveyrone dies at puberty. (Boy were they messing with young minds!)
     Reply
    naugahydeinplainsight was starred naugahydeinplainsight was unstarred
    Image of Paul Geringer Paul Geringer
    04/27/09

    In reply to Eleven Visions of Life After the Great Epidemic
    V for Vendetta and Children of Men (sorta)?
     Reply
    Paul Geringer was starred Paul Geringer was unstarred
    Image of naugahydeinplainsight naugahydeinplainsight
    04/28/09

    @Paul Geringer: I'll buy Children of Men. I don't think they ever tie down exactly what caused the infertility.
     Reply
    naugahydeinplainsight was starred naugahydeinplainsight was unstarred
    Image of Chip Overclock Chip Overclock
    04/27/09

    In reply to Eleven Visions of Life After the Great Epidemic
    The description of THE SIGNAL (which I haven't seen) reminds me of the dangers in the spread of memes: infectious ideas that spread via normal channels of communication.


    While the SF lobes in my brain want to think of this like a sort of computer virus but for people, memes in fact occur all the time in real life, frequently as the latest fad in fashion, business, or technology. And like biological viruses, they can be good or bad. The current financial crisis can be thought of as a kind of meme that infected investors, financiers, and bankers to take on more risk than any rational person could justify.


    Another example is the song that keeps running through your mind (think of ANYTHING except "Gilligan's Island"... ANYTHING!). This has been used in a short story by Arthur C. Clarke (as a weapon against the Nazi's I dimly recall) and in Alfred Bester's THE DEMOLISHED MAN (to avoid mind reading police from pegging a murderer). Just recently I had "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones running though my mind to the point of distraction. (But if you have to have a song stuck in your head, that's not a bad one.)


    Memes might be described as a kind of obsession for those of us that are so inclined. Or maybe some forms of addictions are meme-based instead of physiological.

     Reply
    Chip Overclock was starred Chip Overclock was unstarred
    Image of Annalee Newitz Annalee Newitz
    04/27/09

    @Chip Overclock: I'm pretty sure Gilligan's Island was a horrific virus that destroyed America.
     Reply
    Annalee Newitz was starred Annalee Newitz was unstarred
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