[Leica] Re: Don't Go Bananas!

[chucko@siteconnect.com (Chuck Albertson)]

Sorry, Bill, but it's another Net hoax; below is from this morning's Salon,
see also http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/banana.htm

Chuck Albertson
Seattle, Wash.

*************************************

Attack of the flesh-eating bananas!

Latest Web hoax slanders America's most beloved fruit.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
By Stephen Lemons

April 4, 2000 |  In a rumor sure to wreak chaos at the Chimp Channel, an
e-mail passed along by thousands of credulous netizens has spread the false
report that several shipments of Costa Rican bananas to the United States
have been infected by the bacteria that cause necrotizing fasciitis,
otherwise known as the "flesh-eating" disease.

According to the erroneous e-mail, signed by a nonexistent "Manheim Research
Institute," necrotizing fasciitis has "decimated the monkey population in
Costa Rica." Anonymous researchers at the "MRI" state that "the disease has
been able to graft itself to the skin of fruits in the region," most notably
the banana.

Talk about "Bedtime for Bonzo" -- something like this could spell the end
for the Animal Planet channel. Jane Goodall could be forced into early
retirement. And what will the knuckle draggers in George W. Bush's campaign
staff eat?

(OK, OK. That last bit's unfair -- to the primates.)

Necrotizing fasciitis is caused when certain forms of streptococcus bacteria
infect the skin through a cut or a scratch. They attack the subcutaneous
(soft) tissue and spread very quickly, leaving dead tissue in their wake.
Left untreated, an infection can lead to amputation or death.

The e-mail says the federal government hasn't issued a banana alert for fear
of causing a panic. (That's a job for others.) So the e-mail advises
everyone to lay off the banana daiquiris and Jell-O pudding pops for two or
three weeks, until the scare passes.

If you come down with a fever and a skin infection after noshing on a
'naner, you're supposed to get to an M.D. pronto. If you're more than an
hour from a medical center, the e-mail advises, "burn the flesh ahead of the
infected area to help slow the spread of the infection." Ouch!

Sure, that may look like a mosquito bite on your arm. But just in case, a
bottle of lighter fluid and a box of matches will clean that sucker right
up.

Before you fire up your Bunsen burner, check it out: The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta says the report is a bunch of hooey
that has been going around the Web since January.

"Theoretically, it's possible," explains Chuck Fallis, a CDC spokesman.
"But, to our knowledge, the so-called flesh-eating bacteria have not been
transmitted via banana."

Seems the usual route of transmission for flesh-eating bacteria is person to
person, not banana to person or banana to monkey.

The CDC hasn't been keeping tabs on how many phone calls it has received on
the topic, but it does have a banana-rama hot line set up at (404) 371-5375.
And its Web site includes information debunking the rumor.

Fallis says the CDC recorded about 800 cases of necrotizing fasciitis in
1998: "That sounds like a lot, until you compare it to several million cases
of strep throat each year."

Tim Debus, vice president of the International Banana Association, denounces
the hoax as a case of Internet terrorism comparable to hacker attacks on
popular Web sites. "When we first heard about it in January, it sounded too
unbelievable to be believable," says Debus. "But when you're talking about a
food product, people will err on the side of caution." Go figure.

Debus says his trade organization doesn't have figures indicating whether
the prank has affected sales, but he reports that his office has gotten
hundreds of inquiries about it in the past three months. And the e-mail is
still showing up in people's mailboxes. No one seems to know where the rumor
started.

He says it's a particularly insidious rumor considering the fact that
Americans consume upward of 28 pounds of bananas per capita in a given year
and that 98 percent of all U.S. households have purchased bananas in the
past month. I guess America's the original "Banana Republic."

For David Mikkelson, who runs the respected Urban Legends Reference Pages
with his wife, Barbara, it's a typical Internet hoax. Among other popular
ones out there: tampons are made with asbestos; KFC has been raising
genetically altered chickens; and antiperspirants cause breast cancer.

"A common facet of these rumors is that people are willing to believe the
most outrageous things about governments and large corporations," says
Mikkelson. "We always distrust the big guys, as if the little guys could
never do this."

Mikkelson's fave involves the baby formula Enfalac. According to this
particular hoax, when mixed with a drug found in dog food, it can cause a
toddler's stomach to explode. Supposedly, a child ate some dog food by
accident after ingesting Enfalac, and blammo, baby go boom!

Of course, there's no truth to it. But the more outrageous the story, the
more difficult it is to forget.

Technically, most hoaxes and medical scares are not urban legends, as urban
legends involve narratives that happen to "a friend of a friend," but the
Mikkelsons include them on their Web site anyway.

They must be doing something right; even the CDC's Web site refers readers
to Snopes.com for more info. But Mikkelson's somewhat skeptical about the
positive effects of debunking rumors. "When people read a newspaper story
debunking a rumor about flesh-eating diseases and bananas, what they
remember is 'flesh-eating disease' and 'bananas,'" says Mikkelson. "They
don't remember that the story was telling them it wasn't true."

Damn. It's enough to drive you bananas.


- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill" <m6rf@yahoo.com>
To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2000 9:25 AM
Subject: [Leica] Off topic but worth reading


> This has nothing to do with Leica, but you may find it worth while
> reading..
>
> Bill
>
>
>
> In a message dated 3/23/00 8:53:42 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> bushee@mtdata.com writes:
>
> My husband works at Merck's research facility
> and this warning was sent
> them and has been validated by the Center for
> Disease Control. I thought
> I should pass it along to you...
>
> Please forward to everyone you love!!
> I have checked the source and it is
> VALIDATED FROM THE CDC.
> (center for disease control in atlanta georgia)
> Warning:
> Several shipments of bananas from Costa Rica
> have been infected with necrotizing fasciitis,
> otherwise known as flesh eating
> bacteria.  Recently this disease has decimated
> the monkey population in
> Costa Rica. We are now just learning that
> the disease has been able to
> graft itself to the skin of fruits in the
> region, most notably the Banana
> which is Costa Rica's largest export.
> Until this  finding scientist were
> not sure how the infection was being
> transmitted.  It is advised not to
> purchase Bananas for the next three weeks
> as this is the period of
> time for which bananas that have been shipped to
> the US with the possibility
> of carrying this disease. If you have eaten a
> banana in the last 2-3 days and
> come down with a fever followed by a skin
> infection seek "Medical Attention"!!!
> The skin infection from necrotizing fasciitis
> is very painful and eats two
> to three centimeters of flesh per hour.
> Amputation is likely, death is
> possible.  If you are more than an hour from a medical
> center burning the flesh ahead of  the infected area is
> advised to help slow the spread of the infection.
> The FDA  has been reluctant to issue a country
> wide warning because of fear nationwide panic. They have
> secretly admitted that they feel upwards of 15,000 Americans will be
> affected by this but that these are acceptable numbers.
> Please forward this to as many people you care about as
> possible as we do not feel 15,000 people is an acceptable number.
> Manheim Research Institute
> Center for Disease Control
> Atlanta Georgia >>
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
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