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What is it? What causes it?
Cryptosporidiosis (krip-toe-spo-rid-ee-OH-sis) is a parasitic illness that causes diarrhea, and is caused by the microscopic parasite Cryptosporidium parvum. Both the parasite and the disease that it causes are referred to as “Crypto.”

So what is this “Cryptowhatie” parasite, and how do I get some?
Cryptosporidium parvum is a microscopic (between two and six micrometers in size) unicellular parasite that can live in the intestines of humans and animals (both wild and domestic). It is protected by an outer shell known as an oocyst (oh-oh-cist) that enables it to survive without a host for an extended period of time. In the past twenty or so years, Crypto has been recognized as one of the most common causes of waterborne disease in humans in the United States, though the parasite can be found anywhere in the world that is contaminated by animal droppings or human waste.

You can be infected should you happen to swallow Cryptosporidium oocysts, either from contaminated food or water, or by contact with contaminated stool. Crypto can be extremely contagious, requiring between 10 and 1000 oocysts to cause disease in humans, although 100 oocysts have a 50% chance of being an infectious dose.

OK, so I have Crypto. What now?
The Crypto oocysts are infectious immediately upon contamination. After an incubation period of 2 to 10 days, you may experience symptoms including watery diarrhea, stomach cramps and upset stomach, and a slight fever, although some people have no symptoms at all. Children between the ages of one and five, pregnant women, and people with deficient immune systems are at risk for more serious symptoms. Lucy-S adds that Crypto can, in addition to causing more serious symptoms in those with diseases that compromise immune systems (AIDS, cancer, and so on), be quite fatal to them.

Infected individuals with healthy immune systems will display symptoms from the illness for up to two weeks, although they may continue to pass Cryptosporidium in their feces for up to two months, during which time they can spread the disease to others. Even if you don’t become ill from swallowing Crypto oocysts, you can still pass the organisms in your feces.

There is no known treatment for Cryptosporidiosis, usually you just have to wait it out. Medication may be prescribed by your doctor to control the diarrhea, but in general it is simply recommended to drink plenty of fluids and get extra bed rest.

Well that was no fun. How do I keep from getting it again?
A couple of ways. First, keep your hands clean by washing them with warm water and soap, especially after using the toilet, changing diapers, and before handling or eating food. Avoid drinking water that has not been treated for contaminants (and even then, do not rely on chemical disinfection, since Crypto is highly resistant to chlorine and/or iodine). Avoid sexual practices that involve hand or mouth exposure to stool. Prepare your food by washing fruit and vegetables and cooking meat well.

If you think you may have contracted Crypto, see your health care provider, who will ask you to submit stool samples for testing. If Crypto is suspected, a lab test for it must be specifically requested, since routine lab tests do not test for it.

Sources:
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic484.htm
http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/crypto.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/cryptosporidiosis/factsht_cryptosporidiosis.htm

What is it, who has it, and what do they use it for?
Tear gas finds use in three main areas: law enforcement, as a crowd control device; individual, as personal protection (in the form of Mace or pepper spray); and military, as a training tool (a non-lethal agent to test how fast military personnel can don their gas masks). Wherever its use, tear gas is usually found as one of two chemical compounds: chloroacetophenone (CN), or chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS). Chloropicrin (PS, a fumigant), bromobenzylcyanide (CA), dibenzoxazepine (CR), and mixtures of any of the above are also found, but CN and CS are the most common.

How do I get exposed, and what happens if I do?
Exposure will most often come from skin, eye, or respiratory contact with the liquid or solid (i.e., powder) medium. In practice, this probably means one of two things: you either got Maced, or you were in the area when a canister of tear gas was set off. The severity of your symptoms will vary with the amount of tear gas, how you were exposed to it, and what your physical condition was prior to exposure. Being Maced in the face will probably have worse results than catching a whiff of gas from over the next hill.

Presented here are the common symptoms of being exposed to tear gas, though different reactions are possible. It’s a good idea to note that just because a victim doesn’t display all of the symptoms on this list doesn’t necessarily mean that their case is less severe than someone who does.

1. Respiratory signs and symptoms
   • Cough
   • Hoarseness
   • Chest tightness
   • Sensation of suffocation
   • Dyspnea (difficulty breathing)
   • Tachypnea (rapid breathing)
   • Wheezing
   • Hypoxemia (lack of oxygen in the bloodstream)
   • Cyanosis (bluish or purplish skin discoloration)
   • Noncardiogenic pulmonary edema
2. Skin and mucous membranes
   • Redness, pain, and blistering of exposed skin Burn injury to exposed skin
   • Eye: lacrimation (crying), ocular irritation and redness, blurred vision, corneal burns
   • Oropharynx: oral burns and irritation, sore throat, hoarseness, dysphagia (trouble swallowing), salivation
   • Nose: rhinorrhea (runny nose), burning, irritation, edema

Extended exposure, especially in an enclosed area, has decidedly worse effects, including blindness, glaucoma, death due to severe chemical burns in the throat and lungs, and respiratory failure (which can lead to death); naturally, tear gas is not the only cause of these symptoms.

Aghh! It burns! Get it off! Getitoffgetitoff! (What to do if you are exposed)
First and foremost, try to get out of the area where the riot control agents were released and into fresh air. This is very effective in limiting exposure to tear gas. If the tear gas was released outside, get away from the area, avoiding any heavier-than-air clouds that may be hanging around. If you’re indoors at the time of exposure, get outside.

If you think you’ve been exposed, take off any clothing that could possibly have tear gas on it. This may mean that you strip to your skivvies and do the naked dance. If you have to pull an article of clothing over your head to get it off, you should cut it off instead (otherwise what’s on the shirt or sweater may transfer to your face). If you’re helping someone else, avoid touching areas contaminated with tear gas. All of this should be done as quickly as possible.

Still moving as fast as possible, wash any riot control agent off of yourself with lots of soap and water. If you think you may have gotten tear gas in your eyes (if your vision is blurred or if your eyes are burning), rinse with water for about ten to fifteen minutes. If you’re wearing contacts, get rid of them and do not put them back in, even if they’re not the disposable kind. If you’re wearing glasses or jewelry that can be cleaned with soap and water, you can put those back on after you’ve cleaned them.

After washing yourself, stick all your contaminated clothing, including contacts if you wear them, into a plastic bag or similar storage device. Don’t touch the clothes with your bare skin, since you’ve already washed up and don’t want to go through that again. Then, seal the bag up. When health department or emergency personnel arrive, tell them what you did with the clothes, and they’ll deal with them from there. You shouldn’t dispose of them yourself.

Then, call 911 or whatever number you happen to call when bad things happen. You just got exposed to tear gas, and need to seek medical attention. The doctors will make sure that you’re all right. Treatment that you can expect includes getting victims more oxygen, stopping and treating any chemical burns that may have been caused, and possibly the use of asthma medications to help breathing.

Sources:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/agentpoisoning.asp
http://www.dictionary.com

It takes an incredible amount of energy to fling a ship across space to a distant star. I don’t have all the figures to do the math, but I can tell you that much. I heard from a technician or a scientist or maybe just a gossipy janitor that something like ten thousand people starve to death to budget the energy to send up a crew of twenty-five. Odd, to think that my life is worth 400 others, just because I have a seat on this titanium and plastic juggernaut.

I was part of the fifth crew to go out. Our planet was rapidly filling up, both with people and our offal. The offworld terraforming project had failed miserably. They couldn’t even get the low-oxy corn or barley or whatever it was to grow in the greenhouse tents. So we were poisoning ourselves, poisoning our land, and people were dying for every crop that failed to produce. War was threatening to tear us to shreds. War over space, war over food, war over clean water. War over anything and everything because we were too irritable not to fight like children, but these children had knives and guns and bombs and missiles.

A man named Jonathan Cochrane was our savior. Continue reading ›