1/15    What's the difference between a stomach flu and e. coli.?
        \_ e. coli refers to any of many bacteria that range from beneficial
           to lethal, and the stomach flu is a virus-based disease that
           has nothing to do with e. coli.
        \_ E. coli doesn't kill you.  Flu can.
           \_ E. coli can kill you.  It just usually is harmless.  As for
              "stomach flu", what is that, exactly?  Lots of different
               things, according to this site:
                http://campus.umr.edu/studenthealth/flu_stom.html
                \_ EC doesnt kill anyone who isn't already immune deficient.
                   Carrots can kill you too but it just usually is harmless.
                   Flu has killed millions of people.  EC hasn't.
                   \_ Wrong.  Ever heard of enterohemorhagic E.Coli?  It will
                      sure ruin ANYONE's day!  The truth is there are many
                      forms of e.coli and most don't harm you, in fact, live
                      in your normal flora in your body. (and they were
                      referring to the stomach flu, not influenza.  the
                      stomach flu doesn't kill many people at all, and is
                      usually limited to children).  -med student
        \_ but the symptoms are so similar!
        \_ flu's are caused by viri. they look like zelda rupees attached
                               \_ The plural of virus is viruses.
                                  \_ The plural of doofus is doofuses.
           to graplling hooks.  e. coli. is a bacteria.  it looks like a
           blob of squigles and is way bigger.  For details, ask the soda
           biogeeks.
           \_ Bacteria can be killed by anti-biotics, if it does not
                contain mutations to make it particularly resistant.
                Viruses at this stage are only killed by your immune
                system, which is why vaccination is so important (to
                expose your immune system so that it is much better
                and faster at dealing with a particular virus).
                Flu is a really neat virus, in that it has multiple
                methods of mutation.  It's an RNA virus, which means
                that there are frequent replication mutations, much more
                so that a DNA virus.  It is
                split into several separate RNA strands, which means
                that if you're infected with more than one strain at the
                same time, in the packaging of the virus particle strands
                from the two strains can be mixed and matched, making a
                third, new strain that the immune system can't deal with.
                It's also seen in many different species, and can jump
                species fairly easily.  These all add up to a killer virus.
                Several deadly asian strains have been known to jump from
                chicken hosts to humans.  Huge, not-too healthy poultry
                industry, good breeding ground for a virus.
                The epidemic of 1918 (which killed more
                than all the casualties of WWI) is thought to have jumped
                from pigs somewhere in Kentucky (or someplace like that),
                travelled across the Atlantic with American soldiers, and
                recombined with a European strain.
                Just for another interesting sidenote, an examination of
                a mass grave in Alaska from that epidemic implies that
                the killer Spanish Flu may have differed from other less
                virulent strains by only one peptide in one protein.  So
                either it was so virulent it wiped itself out, and another
                epidemic is just waiting to happen, or it was so virulent
                it killed almost everyone on the planet incapable of
                fighting it off.
                Vaccines for influenza also take a long time to prepare...
                multiple months... so since it mutates so readily fall
                vaccines are mostly just guesswork about which strains
                the world over are more likely to spread.
                \- BTW, "The Coming Plague" by L. Garrett is really quite
                   a good book. Have not yet read Betrayal of Trust, but
                   that looks good too. --psb
                \_ nice explanation of influenza, but they asked about the
                   stomach flu.  they are both viruses, but very different.
                   and yes, e.coli is a bacteria making everything said
                   apply (though interesting to note that different anti-
                   biotics work better or worse on different bacteria due
                   to their envelopes and methods of replication). -med stud
                \_ Well, fuck me in the ass with a cactus. You write all that
                   just now for the motd?
                        \_ it's interesting, let's keep up the good work
                    \_ OK. Say when and wherre.