It has been a slightly fraught week of illness around my family this week. There are bugs a plenty doing the rounds making people ill (including the Cryptosporidium in our water supply) and while any normally healthy person could shake it off given time, it would appear that one member of my family is possibly struggling more than normal. He has a damaged heart with limited working capacity and it seems that he may have caught a virus which it putting extra strain on it. He is in hospital as a result.
This got me thinking about how viruses spread and how easy it is for it to become a pandemic. In the days before we had vaccinations against illnesses, the mortality rate was astronomical. I mean, just look at what The Plague did for us, or Spanish Influenza ...
A 3D rendering of the Influenza Virus Image of the Bubonic Plague Bacterium
Fearful Illness:
The body lies, akin to lead,
strength sapped, feeble and weak,
skin chillingly cool, yet brow alight.
coldest sweat causing substantial slick.
Fever, raging and ravaging,
delirium dominating the brains' pathways.
Visits from the dear departed?
Choking coughing fits strangle airways.
Hurried heart beats unevenly,
struggling, the chest rises and falls.
Breath, raspy and rattling,
the outlook? Not good at all!
Spanish Influenza invaded our shoreline,
the illness killing irrespectively.
Rank and file, even the rich,
the malady decimating mercilessly.
So remember folks, if you're in the Lancashire area near me, boil your water for the foreseeable. Do it gladly, with a smile ... It will save you from a whole load of gut problems!
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