An unknown illness kills over 50 people in part of Congo with hours between symptoms and death
An unknown illness kills over 50 people in part of Congo with hours between symptoms and death
Health experts say an unknown illness first discovered in three children who ate a bat has rapidly killed more than 50 people in northwestern Congo over the past five weeks.
The interval between the onset of symptoms and death has been 48 hours in the majority of cases, and “that’s what’s really worrying,” Serge Ngalebato, medical director of Bikoro Hospital, a regional monitoring center, told The Associated Press.
The latest disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo began on Jan. 21, and 419 cases have been recorded including 53 deaths.
According to the WHO’s Africa office, the first outbreak in the town of Boloko began after three children ate a bat and died within 48 hours following hemorrhagic fever symptoms.
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I apologize in advance for my ignorance. But why do people like to eat bats? Are they particularly nutritious? Or is it a matter of access to foods and resources? Are they really yummy? And why didn’t Ozzy contract any weird deadly disease?
Because they need to eat.
Why do people eat chicken if there's a risk of getting salmonella?
You cook it...
Yet thousands of people get salmonella every year from under cooked chicken and some die of it. Eating bat is the same, cook it correctly and it's safe.
Why not eat something nice and normal instead of a bat though? I mean FFS
Why not eat something
nice and normalthat westerners think is normal instead of a bat though? I mean FFSFixed that for you. You know different regions and cultures have different norms for foods, right?
I'm struggling to think of a single component of a hot dog or sausage that isn't "normal" to eat everywhere in the world except for reasons of religion and even then it depends on what meat was used to make it.
I'm curious as to whether this is lack of experience, knowledge or imagination. Maybe all 3.
On your behalf? It's just ignorance and lack of curiosity. You don't think about the world, hence you do not know.
because you're used to it.
Also, you replied to the wrong person
You're absolutely correct, in fact most food is usually variations on a theme e.g. meat in bread like sandwiches, burgers, burritos, tacos, dumplings... but this isn't a popular opinion unfortunately.
Do they? Most everywhere people eat basically the same shit. Preparation methods vary and there's substitutions historically based on available resources but globalisation has practically obliterated all that.
I'm not a westoid BTW I've traveled a decent amount.
people eat basically the same shit
Buffalo sauce is a rare sight in Europe, as is white gravy. Americans consider them an everyday occurrence.
man what part of america are you in lol. I've never seen either of those as an everyday occurrence, though you will find them if you go to a southern fried chicken joint.
...the south lol
Of course. Do you eat bats too? FWIW, when I was in federal service overseeing biotechnolgical modifications of animals, I and my reports were discussing some permit requests that came to us in conjunction with our duties. One of the permits requests included an animal that was unknown to us at the time. When the critter was mentioned, I and one of my reports (both of us are of an ethnicity stereotypically known to have wide-ranging culinary tastes) turned to each other and wondered aloud, "I wonder if they are good to eat?".
What on earth do you put on your biscuits, if not white gravy?
You may be surprised to learn that "normal" changes based on your culture and geographic location.
I've changed geographic location many times, there's a huge difference between pickling vs. breading and eating fucking bats.
Culture is a spook and an excuse for simpletons.
Lol wtf makes a bat not normal?
Well, for starters, most are pretty small and there'd not be much meat on them anyway. It would be a lot like eating mice, but with more bones.
Do you eat bats often?
have you tried bat?
Could be manna from heaven, for all you know
No? Why would I? Is there anything that makes them as a food source particularly beneficial?
Eating bat vs. eating air seems like a no-brainer in the survival dept.
Now that makes sense. This nonsense about cultures is a crock of shit on the other hand.
Do you ask yourself the same thing when eating any other meat or you just have something against other cultures?
Yes I do, I always wonder how it came to be, and if it's unusual I wonder about why it remains to this day.
Do you not even realise how actually painfully racist it is to imply that their culture is eating known extreme risk factors for horrible diseases? It's like saying having AIDS is queer "culture". It's so fucking patronising.
Guy above gave an actual response. My original comment was just wondering if something happened like extremely bad famine or war that would cause people to take such a risk.
Wait...
You realize that you're the one acting like their culture is weird because they don't act like you do? The only person coming off as racist here is you buddy!
You're the one implying that their culture is eating known high-risk disease vectors, you are the racist here bub, same as those rightoid loons who think Asians don't use antibiotics and only "traditional medicine" and again, same as thinking that AIDS is "gay culture".
You are so fucking out of touch you literally do not know what racism is.
You ever eat a hot dog? Crazy stuff in there just as sketchy as bat.
Maybe in the US? I'm sorry but we still have food regs in europe
In reply to this, I give you Andouillette.
I forgive you. 🤗
Unless you don't eat meat you don't have much of a leg to stand on right now
Huh? Meat I eat isn't considered to be a risky source of novel zoonotic coronaviruses
Chicken is safe as long as you cook it properly
Beef is safe as long as you cook it properly
And guess what...
Bat is safe as long as you cook it properly
People get sick and die from under cooking beef and chicken all the time, will you stop eating it because of that?
I would bet these kids were just as likely, if not more so, to have been infected by handling the bat as having eaten cooked bat.
Are you an idiot? If cows had a high risk of novel zoonotic pandemic diseases coming out of them after a worldwide pandemic then of course I wouldn't eat them you fucking imbecile, and stop implying that these people are too removed to understand this just because of their skin colour.
Funny you would say that.
Heard of bird flu?
The only person implying anything negative about people eating bat here is you. Maybe you should go back and reread this whole conversation, it might make your realize how bad you look.
This is why we had programs like USAID. To keep people from starving and eating infected animals harboring endemic viruses we know nothing about.
Even in the US, it's highly inadvisable to eat animals/bush meat infected with CWD even if it technically can't infect humans ...yet.
Pretty sure you eat anything possible when you're starving, and these children may have been.