A collection of intriguing topics and fascinating stories

about the rare, the paranormal, and the strange

Volume 1




Uncover the mysteries behind rare medical conditions
and the bizarre cases of unusual deaths





Pablo C. Agsalud Jr.
Revision 6







Foreword

In the past, things like television, and words and
ideas like advertising, capitalism, microwave and
cancer all seemed too strange for the ordinary
man.

As man walks towards the future, overloaded with
information, more mysteries have been solved
through the wonders of science. Although some
things remained too odd for science to reproduce
or disprove, man had placed them in the gray
areas between truth and skepticism and labeled
them with terminologies fit for the modern age.

But the truth is, as long as the strange and
unexplainable cases keep piling up, the more likely
it would seem normal or natural. Answers are
always elusive and far too fewer than questions.
And yet, behind all the wonderful and frightening
phenomena around us, it is possible that what we
call mysterious today wont be too strange
tomorrow.

This book might encourage you to believe or refute
what lies beyond your own understanding.
Nonetheless, I hope it will keep you entertained
and astonished.

The content of this book remains believable for as
long as the sources and/or the references from the
specified sources exist and that the validity of the
information remains unchallenged.









Inventors Killed by own
Inventions
Wikipedia.org




The following pages contain the list of inventors whose deaths were in
some manner caused by the product, process, or procedure that they
have invented or designed.

Automotive

William Nelson (ca. 18791903), a General Electric employee, invented a new way
to motorize bicycles. He then fell off his prototype bike during a test run.

Aviation

Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jawhari (died ca. 10031010), a Muslim Kazakh Turkic
scholar from Farab, attempted to fly using two wooden wings and a rope. He leapt
from the roof of a mosque in Nijabur and fell to his death.
Jean-Franois Piltre de Rozier was the first known fatality in an air crash when his
Rozire balloon crashed on 15 June 1785 while he and Pierre Romain were attempting
to cross the English Channel.
Otto Lilienthal (18481896) died the day after crashing one of his hang gliders.
Franz Reichelt (18791912), a tailor, fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel
Tower while testing his invention, the coat parachute. It was his first ever attempt
with the parachute and he had told the authorities in advance that he would test it
first with a dummy.
Aurel Vlaicu (18821913) died when his self-constructed airplane, Vlaicu II, failed
him during an attempt to cross the Carpathian Mountains by air.
Henry Smolinski (died 1973) was killed during a test flight of the AVE Mizar, a flying
car based on the Ford Pinto and the sole product of the company he founded.
Michael Dacre (died 2009, age 53) died after testing his flying taxi device designed
to accommodate fast and affordable travel among nearby cities.

Industrial

William Bullock (18131867) invented the web rotary printing press. Several years
after its invention, his foot was crushed while installing a new machine in Philadelphia.
The crushed foot developed gangrene and Bullock died during the amputation.

Maritime

Horace Lawson Hunley (died 1863, age 40), Confederate marine engineer and
inventor of the first combat submarine, CSS Hunley, died during a trial of his vessel.
During a routine exercise of the submarine, which had already sunk twice previously,
Hunley took command. After failing to resurface, Hunley and the seven other crew
members drowned.

Medical

Thomas Midgley, Jr. (18891944) was an American engineer and chemist who
contracted polio at age 51, leaving him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate
system of strings and pulleys to help others lift him from bed. This system was the
eventual cause of his death when he was accidentally entangled in the ropes of this
device and died of strangulation at the age of 55. However, he is more famous and
infamous for developing not only the tetraethyl lead (TEL) additive to gasoline, but
also chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).


Physics

Marie Curie (18671934) invented the process to isolate radium after co-discovering
the radioactive elements radium and polonium. She died of aplastic anemia as a result
of prolonged exposure to ionizing radiation emanating from her research materials.
The dangers of radiation were not well understood at the time.
Some physicists who worked on the invention of the atom bomb at Los Alamos died
from radiation exposure, including Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. (19211945) and Louis
Slotin (19101946), who both were exposed to lethal doses of radiation in separate
criticality accidents involving the same sphere of plutonium.

Rocketry

Max Valier (18951930) invented liquid-fuelled rocket engines as a member of the
1920s German rocketeering society Verein fr Raumschiffahrt. On May 17, 1930, an
alcohol-fuelled engine exploded on his test bench in Berlin, killing him instantly.

Punishment

Li Si (208 BC), Prime Minister during the Qin dynasty, was executed by the Five Pains
method which he had devised.
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (1581) was executed in Edinburgh on the Scottish
Maiden which he had introduced to Scotland as Regent.
Perillos of Athens, inventor and builder of the brazen bull, was killed by his invention
at the order of the tyrant Phalaris, for whom the bull was built.

Railways

Valerian Abakovsky (18951921) constructed the Aerowagon, an experimental
high-speed railcar fitted with aircraft engine and propeller traction; it was intended to
carry Soviet officials. On July 24, 1921, a group led by Fyodor Sergeyev took the
Aerowagon from Moscow to the Tula collieries to test it, with Abakovsky also on board.
They successfully arrived in Tula, but on the return route to Moscow the Aerowagon
derailed at high speed, killing everyone on board, including Abakovsky (at the age of
25).

Popular myths and related stories

Jim Fixx (April 23, 1932July 20, 1984) was the author of the 1977 best-selling book,
The Complete Book of Running. He is credited with helping start America's fitness
revolution, popularizing the sport of running and demonstrating the health benefits of
regular jogging. On 20 July 1984, Fixx died at the age of 52 of a fulminant heart
attack, after his daily run, on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick.
Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (17381814) While he did not invent the guillotine, his
name became an eponym for it. Rumors circulated that he died by the machine, but
historical references show that he died of natural causes.
Perillos of Athens (circa 550 BC), according to legend, was the first to be roasted in
the brazen bull he made for Phalaris of Sicily for executing criminals, although he was
taken out before he died.
James Heselden (19482010), owner of the Segway production company, died in a
Segway accident. Dean Kamen invented the Segway.
Wan Hu, a sixteenth-century Chinese official, is said to have attempted to launch
himself into outer space in a chair to which 47 rockets were attached. The rockets
exploded and, it is said, neither he nor the chair were ever seen again.





*Tragedies and Mishaps



A list of the worlds worst tragedies.





Unusual Deaths
Wikipedia.org





The following pages contain the list of people who died an unusual
death.


This list contains some of the most unusual, unique and extremely rare
cases of death recorded throughout history.

Antiquity


c. 620 BC Draco, Athenian law-maker, was smothered to death by gifts of cloaks
showered upon him by appreciative citizens at a theatre on Aegina.

6th century BC Legend says Greek wrestler Milo of Croton came upon a tree-trunk split
with wedges. Testing his strength, he tried to rend it with his bare hands.
The wedges fell, trapping his hands in the tree and making him unable to
defend himself from attacking wolves, which devoured him.

401 BC Mithridates, a soldier condemned for the murder of Cyrus the Younger,
was executed by scaphism, surviving the insect torture for 17 days.

272 BC According to Plutarch, Pyrrhus of Epirus, conqueror and the source of the
term pyrrhic victory, died while fighting an urban battle in Argos when an
old woman threw a roof tile at him, stunning him and allowing an Argive
soldier to kill him.

270 BC Philitas of Cos, Greek intellectual, is said by Athenaeus to have studied
arguments and erroneous word usage so intensely that he wasted away
and starved to death. Alan Cameron speculates that Philitas died from a
wasting disease which his contemporaries joked was caused by his
pedantry.

207 BC Chrysippus, a Greek stoic philosopher, is believed to have died of
laughter after giving his donkey wine then seeing it attempt to eat figs.

162 BC Eleazar Maccabeus was crushed to death at the Battle of Beth-zechariah
by a war elephant that he believed to be carrying Seleucid King Antiochus
V. Charging into battle, Eleazar rushed underneath the elephant and
thrust a spear into its belly, whereupon it fell dead on top of him.

4 BC Herod the Great reportedly suffered from fever, intense rashes, colon
pains, foot drop, inflammation of the abdomen, a putrefaction of his
genitals that produced worms, convulsions, and difficulty breathing
before he finally expired. However, gruesome deaths have often been
attributed by various authors who disliked rulers, including several Roman
emperors (for example, Galerius).

64 67 Saint Peter was executed by the Romans. According to tradition, he asked
not to be crucified in the normal way, but was instead executed on an
inverted cross. According to Origen of Alexandria, he said he was not
worthy to be crucified in the same way as Jesus.

c. 98 Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum, was roasted to death in a brazen
bull during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian. Saint Eustace, his wife
and children supposedly suffered a similar fate under Hadrian.

c. 1st or 2nd
century
Rabbi Akiva, a Tanna, a founder of Rabbinic Judaism, and a supporter of
Bar Kokhba, was put to death by the Romans by having his skin flayed
with iron combs.

212 Lucius Fabius Cilo, a Roman senator of the 2nd century, "...choked...by a
single hair in a draught of milk".

258 According to tradition, Saint Lawrence of Rome was roasted alive on a
giant grill.

336 Arius, presbyter of Alexandria, is said to have died of sudden diarrhea
followed by copious hemorrhaging and anal expulsion of the intestines.
He may have been poisoned.

415 Hypatia of Alexandria, Greek mathematician, philosopher, and last
librarian of the Library of Alexandria, was murdered by a Christian mob that
ripped her skin off with sharp sea-shells. Various types of shells have
been named clams, oysters, abalones, etc. Other sources claim tiles or
pottery-shards were used.

Middle Ages

9th century The legendary Prince Popiel, leader of the proto-Polish Goplans and Polans,
and his wife, were allegedly eaten alive by mice in a tower in Kruszwica. A
similar tale is the Mouse Tower of Archbishop Hatto II of Mainz. This curse
was a consequence of his lack of hospitability or obeying traditions.

892 Sigurd the Mighty of Orkney strapped the head of his defeated foe, Mel
Brigte, to his horse's saddle. The teeth of the head grazed against his leg as
he rode, causing a fatal infection.

1063 Bla I of Hungary died when his throne's canopy collapsed upon him.
1219 According to legend, Inalchuk, the Muslim governor of the Central Asian
town of Otrar, was captured and killed by the invading Mongols, who poured
molten silver in his eyes, ears, and throat.

1327 Edward II of England, after being deposed and imprisoned by his Queen
consort Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, was rumored to have been
murdered by having a red-hot iron inserted into his anus.

1410 Martin of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and
uncontrollable laughing.

1478 George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was executed by drowning in a
barrel of Malmsey wine at his own request.



Renaissance

1514 Gyrgy Dzsa, Szkely man-at-arms and peasants' revolt leader in Hungary,
was condemned to sit on a red-hot iron throne with a red-hot iron crown
on his head and a red-hot sceptre in his hand (mocking at his ambition to be
king), by Hungarian landed nobility in Transylvania. While Dzsa was still
alive, he was set upon and his partially roasted body was eaten by six of his
fellow rebels, who had been starved for a week beforehand.

1556 Pietro Aretino is said to have died of suffocation from laughing too much.

1601 Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, according to legend, died of complications
resulting from a strained bladder at a banquet. As it was considered
extremely bad etiquette to leave the table before the meal was finished, he
stayed until he became fatally ill. This version of events has since been
brought into question as other causes of death (murder by Johannes Kepler,
suicide, and mercury poisoning among others) have come to the fore.

1649 Sir Arthur Aston, Royalist commander of the garrison during the Siege of
Drogheda, was beaten to death with his own wooden leg, which the
Parliamentarian soldiers thought concealed golden coins.


1660 Thomas Urquhart, Scottish aristocrat, polymath and first translator of
Rabelais into English, is said to have died laughing upon hearing that
Charles II had taken the throne.

1667 James Betts died from asphyxiation after being accidentally sealed in a
cupboard by Elizabeth Spencer in an attempt to hide him from her father,
John Spencer.

1671 Franois Vatel, chef to Louis XIV, committed suicide because his seafood
order was late and he could not stand the shame of a postponed meal. The
authenticity of this story is questionable.

1673 Molire, the French actor and playwright, died after being seized by a
violent coughing fit, while playing the title role in his play Le Malade
imaginaire (The Hypochondriac).

1687 Jean-Baptiste Lully, composer, died of a gangrenous abscess after piercing
his foot with a staff while he was vigorously conducting a Te Deum. It was
customary at that time to conduct by banging a staff on the floor.



18th century


1751 Julien Offray de La Mettrie, a major materialist and sensualist philosopher
and author of L'Homme machine, died of overeating at a feast given in his
honor.

1753 Professor Georg Wilhelm Richmann, of Saint Petersburg, Russia, became the
first recorded person to be killed while performing electrical experiments
when he was struck and killed by a globe of ball lightning that hit him on
his head.

1755 Henry Hall died from injuries he sustained after molten lead fell into his
throat while looking up at a burning lighthouse.

1762 Crown Prince Sado, then heir to Emperor Yeongjo of Joseon, was ordered to
be sealed alive in a rice chest after his father decided he was unfit to
succeed him. He survived inside for 8 days.

1771 Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden, died of digestion problems on 12
February 1771 after having consumed a meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut,
smoked herring and champagne, topped off with 14 servings of his favourite
dessert hetvgg served in a bowl of hot milk. He is thus remembered by
Swedish schoolchildren as "the king who ate himself to death."

1794 John Kendrick, an American sea captain and explorer, was killed in the
Hawaiian Islands when a British ship mistakenly used a loaded cannon to
fire a salute to Kendrick's vessel.


19th century


1814 London Beer Flood, 9 people were killed (some drowned, some died from
injuries, and one succumbed to alcohol poisoning) when 323,000 imperial
gallons (1,468,000L) of beer in the Meux and Company Brewery burst out of
their vats and gushed into the streets.

1816 Gouverneur Morris, an American statesman, died after sticking a piece of
whale bone through his urinary tract to relieve a blockage.

1830 William Huskisson, statesman and financier, was crushed to death by a
locomotive (Stephenson's Rocket), at the public opening of the world's first
mechanically powered passenger railway.

1834 David Douglas, Scottish botanist, fell into a pit trap accompanied by a
bull. He was gored and possibly crushed.

1862 Jim Creighton, a very early baseball player, died when he swung a bat too
hard and injured himself, possibly by rupturing his bladder.

1868 Matthew Vassar, brewer and founder of Vassar College, died in mid-speech
while delivering his farewell address to the college board of trustees.

1871 Clement Vallandigham, U.S. Congressman, died from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound while defending a murder suspect in court. Vallandigham
was arguing to the court that the victim could have accidentally shot himself
while drawing his gun. As Vallandigham was demonstrating with his own gun,
which he had believed to be unloaded, it accidentally discharged, killing him.
1879 Leonidas Grover, a farmer from Fountain County, Indiana, was instantly
killed by a pyramid-shaped meteorite while sleeping in his bed.

1884 Allan Pinkerton, detective, spy, and founder of the Pinkerton National
Detective Agency, allegedly died when he contracted gangrene after slipping
and biting his tongue; however, conflicting reports indicate that he died of a
stroke instead.

1884 Richard Parker, a 17 year old cabin boy aboard the doomed yacht
Mignonette, was killed by his 3 shipmates after 19 days adrift in a life boat
with little food and water. After killing the ailing cabin boy, the shipmates
subsequently cannibalized his remains. The 3 shipmates were rescued after
35 days afloat at sea in a life boat. Strangely enough, Edgar Allan Poe
predicted these future events in his 1838 fictitious novel The Narrative of
Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, in which a young cabin boy named Richard
Parker was killed and eaten by his crewmates after the Nantucket ship was
lost at sea.


20th century

1910s

1912 Franz Reichelt, tailor, fell to his death off the first deck of the Eiffel Tower
while testing his invention, the overcoat parachute. It was his first ever
attempt with the parachute.

1916 Grigori Rasputin, Russian mystic, was reportedly poisoned, shot in the head,
shot three more times, bludgeoned, and then thrown into a frozen river after
being castrated. When his body washed ashore, an autopsy showed the
cause of death to be hypothermia; however, some now doubt the credibility
of this account. Another account said that he was poisoned, shot, and
stabbed, at which time he got up and ran off and was later found to have
drowned in a frozen river.

1918 Gustav Kobb, writer and musicologist, was killed when the sailboat he was
on was struck by a landing seaplane off Long Island, New York.

1919 In the Boston Molasses Disaster, 21 people were killed and 150 were injured
when a tank containing as much as 2,300,000 US gal (8,700,000 L) of
molasses exploded, sending a wave travelling at approximately 35 mph (56
km/h) through part of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

1920s

1920 Ray "Chappie" Chapman, shortstop for the Cleveland Indians baseball team,
was killed when a submarine ball thrown by Carl Mays hit him in the
temple. He took two steps after being awarded first base, collapsed, and died
the next day.

1920 Dan Andersson, a Swedish author, died of cyanide poisoning while staying
at Hotel Hellman in Stockholm. The hotel staff had failed to clear the room
after using hydrogen cyanide against bed bugs.

1920, 25
October
Alexander I, King of the Hellenes, was taking a walk in the Royal Gardens,
when his dog was attacked by a monkey. The King attempted to defend his
dog, receiving bites from both the monkey and its mate. The diseased
animals' bites caused sepsis and Alexander died three weeks later.

1923 Frank Hayes, a jockey at Belmont Park, New York, died of a heart attack
during the course of his first race. His mount finished first with his body still
attached to the saddle, and he was only discovered to be dead when the
horse's owner went to congratulate him.

1923 George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, died allegedly because of the so-
called King Tut's Curse after a mosquito bite on his face, which he cut while
shaving, became seriously infected with erysipelas, leading to blood
poisoning and eventually pneumonia.

1923 Martha Mansfield, an American film actress, died after sustaining severe
burns on the set of the film The Warrens of Virginia after a smoker's match,
tossed by a cast member, ignited her Civil War costume of hoopskirts and
ruffles.

1925 Zishe (Siegmund) Breitbart, a circus strongman and Jewish folklore hero,
died after demonstrating he could drive a spike through five one-inch (2.54
cm) thick oak boards using only his bare hands. He accidentally pierced his
knee and the rusted spike caused an infection which led to fatal blood
poisoning.

1926 Phillip McClean, 16, from Queensland, Australia became the only person
documented to have been killed by a cassowary. After encountering the bird
on their family property, McClean and his brother decided to kill it with clubs.
When McClean struck the bird it knocked him down, then kicked him in the
neck, opening a 1.25 cm long cut in one of his main blood vessels. Though
the boy managed to get back on his feet and run away, he collapsed a short
while later and died from the hemorrhage.

1926 Harry Houdini, a famous American escape artist, was punched in the
stomach by an amateur boxer. Though this had been done with Houdini's
permission, complications from this injury caused him to die days later, on
October 31, 1926. It was later determined that Houdini died of a ruptured
appendix.

1927 J. G. Parry-Thomas, a Welsh racing driver, was decapitated when his car's
drive chain snapped and whipped into the cockpit.

1927 Isadora Duncan, dancer, died of a broken neck when her long scarf caught
on the wheel of a car in which she was a passenger.

1928 Alexander Bogdanov, a Russian physician, died following one of his
experiments, in which the blood of L. I. Koldomasov, a student suffering from
malaria and tuberculosis, was given to him in a transfusion.

1930s

1930 William Kogut, an inmate on death row at San Quentin, committed suicide
with a pipe bomb created from several packs of playing cards and the hollow
leg from his cot. At the time, the red ink in playing cards contained
flammable nitrocellulose, which when wet can create an explosive mixture.
Kogut used the heater in his cell to activate the bomb.

1932 Eben Byers, an American industrialist and socialite, died of radiation
poisoning after having consumed large quantities of Radithor, a popular
patent medicine containing radium and thorium.

1933 Michael Malloy, a homeless man, was murdered by five men in a plot to
collect on life insurance policies they had purchased. After surviving multiple
poisonings, intentional exposure, and being struck by a car, Malloy
succumbed to gassing.

1935 Baseball player Len Koenecke was bludgeoned to death with a fire
extinguisher by the crew of an aircraft he had chartered, after provoking a
fight with the pilot while the plane was in the air.

1939 Finnish actress Sirkka Sari died when she fell down a chimney into a
heating boiler. She had mistaken the chimney for a balcony.



1940s

1940 Marcus Garvey died as a result of two strokes after reading a negative
premature obituary of himself.

1941 Sherwood Anderson, writer, died of peritonitis after swallowing a toothpick
at a party.

1942 32 men died when the British cruiser Trinidad (46) accidentally torpedoed
herself.

1943 Critic Alexander Woollcott suffered a fatal heart attack during an on-air
discussion about Adolf Hitler.

1944 74 men died when the US Submarine Tang (SS-306) accidentally torpedoed
itself during a combat patrol off the coast of Taiwan.

1944 Inventor and chemist Thomas Midgley, Jr. accidentally strangled himself with
the cord of a pulley-operated mechanical bed of his own design.

1945 Scientist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. accidentally dropped a brick of tungsten
carbide onto a sphere of plutonium while working on the Manhattan Project.
This caused the plutonium to come to criticality; Daghlian died of radiation
poisoning, becoming the first person to die in a criticality accident.

1946 Louis Slotin, chemist and physicist, died of radiation poisoning after being
exposed to lethal amounts of ionizing radiation from the same core that killed
Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. The core went critical after a screwdriver he was using
to separate the halves of the spherical beryllium reflector slipped.

1947 The Collyer Brothers, extreme cases of compulsive hoarders, were found
dead in their home in New York. The younger brother, Langley, was crushed
to death when he accidentally triggered one of his own booby traps that had
consisted of a large pile of objects, books, and newspapers. His blind and
paralyzed brother Homer, who had depended on Langley for care, died of
starvation some days later.



1950s

1951 Prof. Malcolm H. Soule, scientist, killed himself with an injection of snake
venom and morphine after being fired from heading the department of
bacteriology at the University of Michigan.

1955 Margo Jones, theater director, was killed by exposure to carbon
tetrachloride fumes from her newly cleaned carpet.

1958 Gareth Jones, actor, collapsed and died between scenes of a live television
play, Underground, at the studios of Associated British Corporation in
Manchester. Director Ted Kotcheff continued the play to its conclusion,
improvising around Jones' absence.

1959 In the Dyatlov Pass incident, nine ski hikers in the Ural Mountains
abandoned their camp in the middle of the night, some clad only in their
underwear despite sub-zero weather. Six died of hypothermia and three by
unexplained injuries. The corpses showed no signs of struggle, but one had a
fatal skull fracture, two had major chest fractures, and one was missing her
tongue. Soviet investigators determined only that "a compelling unknown
force" had caused the deaths.



1960s


1960 In the Nedelin catastrophe, more than 100 Soviet rocket technicians and
officials died when a switch was accidentally turned on, causing the second
stage engines of a rocket to ignite, directly above the fully fueled first stage.
The casualties included Red Army Marshal Nedelin, who was sitting just 40
meters away overseeing launch preparations.

1960 Inejiro Asanuma, 61, the head of the Japanese Socialist Party, was stabbed
to death with a wakizashi sword by extreme rightist Otoya Yamaguchi
during a televised political rally.

1960 Alan Stacey, Formula One race driver, died in a crash during the Belgian
Grand Prix when a bird flew into his face, causing him to lose control.

1961 U.S. Army Specialists John A. Byrnes and Richard Leroy McKinley, and Navy
Electrician's Mate Richard C. Legg were killed by a water hammer
explosion during maintenance on an SL-1 reactor in Idaho.

1961 Valentin Bondarenko, a Soviet cosmonaut trainee, died after suffering third-
degree burns from a flash fire in the pure oxygen environment of a training
simulator.

1963 Thch Qung c, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, sat down in the middle of a
busy intersection in Saigon, covered himself in gasoline, and lit himself on
fire, burning himself to death.

1966 Worth Bingham, son of Barry Bingham, Sr., died when a surfboard, lying
atop the back of his convertible, hit a parked car, swung around, and broke
his neck.

1966 Skydiver Nick Piantanida died from the effects of uncontrolled
decompression four months after an attempt to break the world record for
the highest parachute jump. During his third attempt, his face mask came
loose (or he possibly opened it by mistake), causing loss of air pressure and
irreversible brain damage.

1967 Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee, NASA astronauts, died when a
flash fire began in their pure oxygen environment during a training exercise
inside the Apollo 1 spacecraft. The spacecraft's escape hatch could not be
opened because it was designed to seal shut under pressure.

1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first person to die during a space
mission after the parachute of his capsule failed to deploy following re-
entry.


1970s

1972 Leslie Harvey, guitarist of Stone the Crows, was electrocuted on stage by a
live microphone.

1974 Basil Brown, a 48-year-old health food advocate from Croydon, drank
himself to death with carrot juice.

1974 Christine Chubbuck, an American television news reporter, committed
suicide during a live broadcast on July 15. Eight minutes into her talk
show on WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida, she shot herself in the head with a
revolver.

1974 Deborah Gail Stone, 18, an employee at Disneyland in Anaheim, California,
was crushed to death between a moving wall and a stationary wall inside of
the revolving America Sings attraction.

1975 Band Mitsugor VIII, a Japanese kabuki actor, died of severe poisoning
when he ate four fugu (puffer-fish) livers. Mitsugor claimed to be immune
to the poison and the fugu chef felt he could not refuse him.

1975 Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old from Norfolk, England, died laughing while
watching The Goodies. A particular scene had caused Mitchell to laugh
nonstop for twenty-five minutes before dying of heart failure.

1976 Keith Relf, former singer for British rhythm and blues band The Yardbirds,
died while practicing his electric guitar. He was electrocuted by an
improperly grounded amplifier.

1977 Tom Pryce, a Formula One driver at the 1977 South African Grand Prix, was
killed when he was struck in the face by a track marshal's fire extinguisher.
The marshal, Frederik Jansen van Vuuren, was running across the track to
attend to Pryce's team-mate's burning car when he was struck, and killed, by
Pryce's car.

1978 Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, was assassinated in London with a
specially modified umbrella that fired a metal pellet with a small cavity full
of ricin into his calf.

1978 Janet Parker, a British medical photographer, died of smallpox in 1978, ten
months after the disease was eradicated in the wild, when a researcher at the
laboratory where Parker worked accidentally released some virus into the air
of the building. Parker is the last known smallpox fatality.

1978 Kurt Gdel, the Austrian/American logician and mathematician, died of
starvation when his wife was hospitalized. Gdel suffered from extreme
paranoia and refused to eat food prepared by anyone else.

1979 Robert Williams, a worker at a Ford Motor Co. plant, was the first known
human to be killed by a robot, after the arm of a one-ton factory robot hit
him in the head.

1979 John Bowen, a 20-year-old of Nashua, New Hampshire, was attending a
halftime show at a New York Jets football game at Shea Stadium on
December 9, 1979. During an event featuring custom-made remote control
flying machines, a 40-pound model plane shaped like a lawnmower
accidentally dove into the stands, striking Bowen and another spectator,
causing severe head injuries. Bowen died in the hospital four days later.


1980s


1980 Monica Myers, the 70-year-old mayor of Betterton, Maryland, died when she
slipped into a 25-foot tank of raw sewage and drowned in human waste.


1980 James Frederick Polley, a 23-year-old from Raytown, Missouri, died while
riding the Fire In The Hole ride in Branson, Missouri, at Silver Dollar City
theme park. The train of cars he was riding in was mistakenly switched to
enter the maintenance and storage area of the ride. The door to the
maintenance area had a low-hanging bay door and his head got caught
between the door and the train.

1981 David Allen Kirwan a 24-year-old, died from third-degree burns after
attempting to rescue a friend's dog from the 200F (93C) water in Celestine
Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on July 20, 1981.
1981 Boris Sagal, a film director, died while shooting the TV miniseries World War
III when he walked into the tail rotor blade of a helicopter and was
decapitated.

1981 Kenji Urada, a Japanese factory worker, was killed by a malfunctioning
robot he was working on at a Kawasaki plant in Japan. The robot's arm
pushed him into a grinding machine, killing him.

1981 Paul Gauci, a 41-year-old Maltese man, died after welding a butterfly bomb
to a metal pipe and using it as a mallet, thinking it was a harmless can.

1982 Vic Morrow, actor, was decapitated by a helicopter blade during filming
of Twilight Zone The Movie. Two child actors were also killed; Myca Dinh Le,
who was decapitated, and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, who was crushed.

1982 David Grundman was killed near Lake Pleasant, Arizona while shooting at
cacti with his shotgun. After he fired several shots at a 26 ft (8 m) tall
Saguaro Cactus from extremely close range, a 4 ft limb of the cactus
detached and fell on him, crushing him.

1982 Navy Lieutenant George M. Prior, 30, died in Arlington, Virginia from a
severe allergic reaction to Daconil, a fungicide used on a golf course he
attended. He had unwittingly ingested the substance through his habit of
carrying the tee in his mouth when playing.

1983 Four divers and a tender were killed on the Byford Dolphin semi-
submersible, when a decompression chamber explosively decompressed from
9 atm to 1 atm in a fraction of a second. The diver nearest the chamber
opening literally exploded just before his remains were ejected through a 24
inch (60 cm) opening. The other divers' remains showed signs of boiled
blood, unusually strong rigor mortis, large amounts of gas in the blood
vessels, and scattered hemorrhages in the soft tissues.

1983 Sergei Chalibashvili, a professional diver, died as a result of a diving accident
during the 1983 Summer Universiade in Edmonton, Alberta. When he
attempted a three-and-a-half reverse somersault in the tuck position from
the ten meter platform, he struck his head on the platform and was knocked
unconscious. He died after being in a coma for a week.

1983 American author Tennessee Williams died when he choked on an eyedrop
bottle-cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York. He would routinely
place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eyedrops in each eye.

1983 Jimmy Lee Gray, during his execution in a Mississippi gas chamber, died
bashing his head against a metal pole behind the chair he was strapped
into. The poisonous gas had failed to kill him but left him in agony and
gasping for eight minutes.

1983 Dick Wertheim was an American tennis linesman who died from blunt
cranial trauma at a match at the 1983 US Open. Stefan Edberg sent an
errant serve directly into his groin, causing him to fall and hit his head on the
pavement.

1984 Tommy Cooper, British comedian, died of a heart attack while performing
during a live TV broadcast at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Initially the
audience, thinking it was part of the act, continued to laugh as he lay
collapsed on the stage. He was then pulled from sight as attempts were made
to revive him off stage.

1984 Jon-Erik Hexum, an American television actor, died after he shot himself in
the head with a prop gun loaded with a single blank cartridge. Hexum was
playing Russian Roulette during a break in filming.

1986 Hrand Arakelian, a Brink's armored truck guard, was crushed by several 25-
pound boxes of quarters when the driver braked suddenly in Los Angeles,
California.

1986 More than 1,700 were killed after a limnic eruption from Lake Nyos in
Cameroon, released approximately 100 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide
that quickly descended on the lake and killed oxygen-dependent life within a
15-mile (25 kilometer) radius, including three villages. The same
phenomenon is also blamed for the deaths of 37 near Lake Monoun in 1984.

1987 Budd Dwyer, the State Treasurer of Pennsylvania, committed suicide during
a televised press conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Facing a potential
55-year jail sentence for alleged involvement in a conspiracy, Dwyer shot
himself in the head with a revolver.

1987 Franco Brun, a 22-year-old prisoner at Toronto East Detention Centre, in
Toronto, Ontario, choked to death after attempting to swallow a Gideon's
Bible.

1988 Clarabelle Lansing, an Aloha Airlines Flight 243 flight attendant, was sucked
out of a Boeing 737 when a large section of its fuselage tore off in mid
flight.



1990s


1991 Maximo Rene Menendez, a 25-year-old man from Miami, fell into a coma and
eventually died after drinking a Colombian soft drink that had been laced
with cocaine in an apparent smuggling scheme.

1991 Edward Juchniewicz, a 76-year-old man from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania,
was killed when the unattended ambulance stretcher he was strapped to
rolled down a grade and overturned.

1991 Carl Hulsey, 77, of Cherokee County, Georgia, was butted to death by a pet
goat he had been training to act as a "guard dog".

1993 Actor Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, was shot and killed by a prop gun
during the making of the movie The Crow. The accident happened after a
mistake in prop handling procedures. In a prior scene a revolver was fired
using a cartridge with only a primer and a bullet, but the primer provided
enough force to push the round out of the cartridge into the barrel of the
revolver, where it stuck. The gun was then reused to shoot the death scene
of Lee's character. This time it was reloaded with a blank cartridge that
contained propellant and a primer. When actor Michael Massee fired the gun,
the bullet was propelled into Lee.

1993 Garry Hoy, a 38-year-old lawyer in Toronto, Ontario, fell to his death on July
9, 1993, after he threw himself against a window on the 24th floor of the
Toronto-Dominion Centre in an attempt to prove to a group of visitors that
the glass was "unbreakable." The glass did not break, but popped out of
the window frame.

1993 Michael A. Shingledecker Jr. was killed when he and a friend were struck by
a pickup truck while lying flat on the yellow dividing line of a two-lane
highway in Polk, Pennsylvania. They were copying a daredevil stunt from
the movie The Program. Marco Birkhimer died of a similar accident while
performing the same stunt in Route 206 of Bordentown, New Jersey.

1994 Gloria Ramirez was admitted to Riverside General Hospital, in Riverside,
California, for complications of advanced cervical cancer. Before she died, her
caregivers claimed that Ramirez's body mysteriously emitted toxic fumes
that made several emergency room workers very ill.

1994 Jeremy Brenno, a 16 year-old golfer from Gloversville, New York, was killed
when he threw his club against a bench in a fit of rage, breaking the
shaft. Part of the shaft bounced back and pierced his heart.

1995 A 39-year-old man committed suicide in Canberra, Australia by shooting
himself three times with a pump action shotgun. The first shot passed
through his chest, but missed all of the vital organs. He reloaded and shot
away his throat and part of his jaw. Breathing through the throat wound, he
again reloaded, held the gun against his chest with his hands and operated
the trigger with his toes. This shot entered the thoracic cavity and
demolished the heart, killing him.

1996 Sharon Lopatka, from Maryland, was killed by Robert Glass who claimed that
she had solicited him to torture and kill her for the purpose of sexual
gratification.

1997 Karen Wetterhahn, a professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, died of
mercury poisoning ten months after a few drops of dimethylmercury landed
on her protective gloves. Although Wetterhahn had been following the
required procedures for handling the chemical, it still permeated her gloves
and skin within seconds. As a result of her death, regulations were altered.

1998 Tom and Eileen Lonergan were presumed dead after being stranded after
scuba diving with a group of divers off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The
group's boat accidentally abandoned them after an incorrect head count
taken by the dive boat crew. Their bodies were never recovered.

1998 October An entire visiting association football team playing against Basanga was
killed by lightning during a match in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Everyone on Basanga, the home team, survived.

1999 Dominguez Garcia was killed February 25, 1999, by an airborne cow in
Vacaville, California. The animal had strayed onto the highway and was
struck by another vehicle, launching it into his lane where it crashed through
his windshield.

1999 Owen Hart, a Canadian-born professional wrestler for WWF, died while
performing a stunt where he was to be lowered into the ring from the rafters
of the Kemper Arena on a safety harness. The safety latch was accidentally
released early and Owen dropped 78 feet (24 m) and landed chest-first on
the top rope, severing his aorta.

1999 Professional golfer Payne Stewart and five others died when the airplane
they were on lost cabin pressure in-flight, causing fatal hypoxia. The
aircraft continued on auto-pilot for several hours before running out of fuel
and crashing in South Dakota.


21st century
2000s

2001 Bernd-Jrgen Brandes, from Germany, was voluntarily stabbed repeatedly
and then partly eaten by Armin Meiwes (who was later called the Cannibal
of Rotenburg). Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes
looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that
he wished to be killed and eaten.

2001 Gregory Biggs, a homeless American man in Fort Worth, Texas, was struck
by a car being driven by Chante Jawan Mallard and became lodged in her
windshield with severe but not immediately fatal injuries. Mallard drove home
and left the car in her garage with Biggs still lodged in her car's windshield.
Biggs died of his injuries several hours later.

2001 Michael Colombini, a 6-year-old American boy from Croton-on-Hudson, New
York, was struck and killed, at Westchester Regional Medical Center, by an
oxygen tank when it was pulled into the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
machine while he underwent a test. He had begun to experience breathing
difficulties while in the MRI and when an anesthesiologist brought a portable
oxygen canister into the magnetic field, it was pulled from his hands and
struck the boy in the head.

2002 Brittanie Cecil, a 13-year-old American, was struck in the head by a hockey
puck shot by Espen Knutsen at an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio. She
died two days later in the hospital.

2002 Richard Sumner, a British artist suffering from schizophrenia, went into a
remote section of Clocaenog Forest in Denbighshire, Wales, handcuffed
himself to a tree and threw the keys out of his reach. His skeleton was
discovered three years later.

2003 Brian Douglas Wells, an American pizza delivery man in Erie, Pennsylvania,
was killed when a time bomb fastened around his neck exploded. At the
time of his death he had been apprehended by the police for robbing a bank.
Wells told police that three people had locked the bomb around his neck and
would not release it had he refused to commit the robbery.

2003 In 2003, Damnoen Saen-um, a Thai ice cream salesman, is reported to have
died while laughing in his sleep at the age of 52. His wife was unable to
wake him, and he stopped breathing after two minutes of continuous
laughter. He is believed to have died of either heart failure or asphyxiation.

2003 Dr. Hitoshi Christopher Nikaidoh, a surgeon, was decapitated as he stepped
onto an elevator at Christus St. Joseph Hospital in Houston, Texas, USA on
August 16, 2003.

2004 Phillip Quinn, a 24-year-old from Kent, Washington, was killed while heating
up a lava lamp on his kitchen stove. The lamp exploded and a shard pierced
his heart.

2004 Ronald McClagish, from England, died after being trapped inside a
cupboard for a week. A wardrobe outside had fallen over, trapping him.

2004 An unidentified Taiwanese woman died of alcohol intoxication after
immersion for twelve hours in a bathtub filled with 40% ethanol. Her
blood alcohol content was 1.35%. It was believed that she had immersed
herself as a response to the SARS epidemic.

2004 Tracy J. Kraling, 31 was killed at Regions Hospital in Minnesota after
entering a walk-in autoclave. The door closed while she was inside, and the
machine automatically started, scalding her with 180-degree steam.

2004 Francis "Franky" Brohm, 23, of Marietta, Georgia was leaning out of a car
window and decapitated by a telephone pole support wire. The car's
intoxicated driver, John Hutcherson, 21, drove nearly 12 miles to his home
with the headless body in the passenger seat, parked the car in his driveway,
then went to bed. A neighbor saw the bloody corpse still in the car and
notified police. Brohm's head was later discovered at the accident scene.

2005 Kenneth Pinyan from Seattle, Washington, died of acute peritonitis after
receiving anal intercourse from a stallion. The case led to the
criminalization of bestiality in Washington state.

2005 Lee Seung Seop, a 28-year-old South Korean, collapsed of fatigue and died
after playing the videogame StarCraft online for almost 50 consecutive
hours.

2006 Erika Tomanu, a seven-year-old girl in Saitama, Japan, died when she was
sucked 10 metres down the intake pipe of a current pool at a water park.

2006 Steve Irwin, an Australian television personality and naturalist known as the
Crocodile Hunter, died when his heart was impaled by a short-tail stingray
barb while filming a documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

2006 Alexander Litvinenko, a former officer of the Russian State security service,
and later a Russian dissident and writer, died after being poisoned with
polonium-210 causing acute radiation syndrome.

2007 Jennifer Strange, a 28-year-old woman from Sacramento, California, died of
water intoxication while trying to win a Nintendo Wii console in a KDND
107.9 "The End" radio station's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest, which
involved drinking large quantities of water without urinating.

2007 Humberto Hernandez, a 24-year-old Oakland, California resident, was killed
after being struck in the face by an airborne fire hydrant while walking. A
passing car had struck the fire hydrant and the water pressure shot the
hydrant at Hernandez with enough force to kill him.

2007 Kevin Whitrick, a 42-year-old British man, committed suicide by hanging
himself live in front of a webcam during an Internet chat session.

2007 Mike Coolbaugh, a 35-year-old former Major League Baseball player, was
killed when he was struck in the head by a line drive while standing in the
first base coach's box during a minor league game between the Tulsa Drillers
and the Arkansas Travelers.

2007 Surinder Singh Bajwa, the Deputy Mayor of Delhi, India, died after falling
from his building's terrace while trying to fight off attacking Rhesus
Macaque monkeys.

2008 Abigail Taylor, a 6-year-old from Edina, Minnesota, died nine months after
several of her internal organs were partially sucked out of her lower
body while she sat on an excessively powerful swimming pool drain.
Surgeons had replaced her intestines and pancreas with donor organs, but
she later succumbed to a rare transplant-related cancer.

2008 Gerald Mellin, a U.K. businessman, committed suicide by tying one end of a
rope around his neck and the other to a tree. He then got into his Aston
Martin DB7 and drove down a main road in Swansea until the rope
decapitated him.

2008 David Phyall, 58, the last resident in a block of flats due to be demolished in
Bishopstoke, near Southampton, Hampshire, England, cut off his own head
with a chainsaw to highlight the injustice of being forced to move out.

2008 James Mason, 73, of Middlefield, Ohio, died of heart failure after his wife
exercised him to death in a public swimming pool. Christine Newton-John,
41, pulled Mason around the pool and prevented him from getting out of the
water 43 times.

2008 Isaiah Otieno, 23, a Kenyan student living in Cranbrook, British Columbia,
was killed when a Bell 206 helicopter crashed on top of him as he walked
along a residential street.

2008 Nordin Montong, 32, a janitor at the Singapore Zoo, committed suicide by
entering an enclosure containing white tigers and provoking them with
brooms and a pail until they mauled him to death.

2009 Jonathan Campos, an American sailor charged with murder, killed himself in
his Camp Pendleton, San Diego, California, cell by stuffing toilet paper into
his mouth until he asphyxiated.

2009 Sergey Tuganov, a 28-year-old Russian, bet two women that he could
continuously have sex with them both for twelve hours. Several minutes after
winning the $4,300 bet, he suffered a fatal heart attack, apparently due to
having ingested an entire bottle of Viagra just after accepting the bet.

2009 Taylor Mitchell, a Canadian folk singer, was attacked and killed by two
coyotes.

2009 Vladimir Likhonos, a Ukrainian student, died after accidentally dipping a
piece of homemade chewing gum into explosives he was using on another
project. He mistook the jar of explosive for citric acid, which was also on his
desk. The gum exploded, blowing off his jaw and most of the lower part of his
face.



2010s

2010 Jenny Mitchell, a 19-year-old English hairdresser, was killed when her car
exploded after fumes, caused by chemicals mixing with hydrogen peroxide
leaking from a bottle of hair bleach, ignited as she lit a cigarette.

2010 Vladimir Ladyzhensky, a competitor from Russia, died in the World Sauna
Championships in Finland after he had spent six minutes in a sauna that had
been heated up to 110 C (230 F).

2010 Mike Edwards, 62, a musician and a founding member of rock group Electric
Light Orchestra, was killed when a 600 kg (1,300 lb) bale of hay rolled
down a hill and landed on his passing van in Devon, England.

2010 Jimi Heselden, owner of the Segway motorized scooter company, was killed
when he accidentally drove off a cliff on a Segway at his estate and
drowned in the River Wharfe.


2010 Robert Boardman, 63, was gored to death by a mountain goat at
Olympic National Park.

2010 Robert Gary Jones, 38, was killed while jogging on a beach in Hilton Head
Island, South Carolina when he was hit from behind by a small plane
making an emergency landing.

2011 Jose Luis Ochoa, 35, died after being stabbed in the leg at a cockfight by
one of the birds that had a knife attached to its limb.

2011 Arthur Sexton, 80, drowned after falling off a step ladder and landing
upside down in a water butt containing only a couple of feet of water.

2011 Acton Beale, 20, died after falling from a balcony in Brisbane, Australia, the
only person known to have died while participating in a fad known as
'planking'.

2011 A 25-year-old woman from Ottawa, Ontario and Steven Leon, 40, of
Gatineau, Quebec, died after an airborne American black bear smashed
through the windshield of their SUV near Luskville, Quebec. The bear had
been hit by another vehicle, launching it into the oncoming lane where it
landed on the SUV.

2011 Sheila Decoster, 62, died from asphyxiation after falling head first into a
recycling bin at her home in Toledo, Ohio.

2011 Brian Depledge, 38, died from asphyxiation at his home in Bradford,
England, after tripping and falling into a plastic clothes airer and trapping
his neck in the rungs.


Herod the Great
Wikipedia.org

Herod (Hebrew: , Hordos, Greek: , Hrids), also known as Herod the Great
(born 73 or 74 BCE, died 4 BCE in Jericho), was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of
"the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family
and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and
elsewhere, including his expansion of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (sometimes referred to
as Herod's Temple) and the construction of the port at Caesarea Maritima. Important details of
his biography are gleaned from the works of the 1st century CE Roman-Jewish historian
Josephus Flavius.

Death

Since the work of Emil Schrer in 1896 most scholars have agreed that Herod died at the end
of March or early April in 4 BCE.

Further evidence is provided by the fact that his sons, between whom his kingdom was
divided, dated their rule from 4 BCE, and Archilaus apparently also exercised royal authority
during Herod's lifetime. Josephus states that Philip the Tetrarch's death took place after a 37-
year reign, in the 20th year of Tiberius (34 CE).

Josephus tells us that Herod died after a lunar eclipse. He gives an account of events between
this eclipse and his death, and between his death and Passover. A partial eclipse took place on
March 13, 4 BCE, about 29 days before Passover, and this eclipse is usually taken to be the
one referred to by Josephus. There were however three other, total, eclipses around this time,
and there are proponents of both 5 BCE with two total eclipses, and 1 BCE.
Bronze coin of Herod the Great, minted at Samaria.

Josephus wrote that Herod's final illness sometimes named as "Herod's Evil" was
excruciating. From Josephus' descriptions, some medical experts propose that Herod had
chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier's gangrene. Modern scholars agree he
suffered throughout his lifetime from depression and paranoia. More recently, others report
that the visible worms and putrefaction described in his final days are likely to have been
scabies; the disease might have accounted for both his death and psychiatric symptoms.
Similar symptoms attended the death of his grandson Agrippa I in CE 44.

Josephus also stated that Herod was so concerned that no one would mourn his death, that he
commanded a large group of distinguished men to come to Jericho, and he gave order that
they should be killed at the time of his death so that the displays of grief that he craved would
take place. Fortunately for them, Herod's son Archilaus and sister Salome did not carry out
this wish.


The Toxic Lady
Wikipedia.org

Gloria Ramirez (January 11, 1963 - February 19, 1994) was a Riverside, California, woman
dubbed "the toxic lady" by the media when several Riverside General Hospital workers became
ill after exposure to her body and blood.

The emergency room visit

About 8:15 in the evening on February 19, 1994, Ramirez was brought into the emergency
room of Riverside General Hospital by paramedics, suffering from the effects of advanced
cervical cancer. She was extremely confused, and suffering from bradycardia and Cheyne-
Stokes respiration.

The medical staff injected her with Valium, Versed, and Ativan to sedate her, and agents such
as lidocaine to stimulate her heartbeat. When it became clear that Ramirez was responding
poorly to treatment, the staff tried to defibrillate her heart; at that point several people saw an
oily sheen covering Ramirezs body, and some noticed a fruity, garlic-like odor that they
thought was coming from her mouth. A registered nurse named Susan Kane attempted to
draw blood from Ramirez's arm, and noticed an ammonia like smell coming from the tube.

She passed the syringe to Julie Gorchynski, a medical resident who noticed manila-colored
particles floating in the blood. At this point, Kane fainted and was removed from the room.
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Gorchynski began to feel nauseated. Complaining that she was light-
headed, she left the trauma room and sat at a nurses desk. A staff member asked her if she
was okay, but before she could respond she also fainted. Maureen Welch, a respiratory
therapist who was assisting in the trauma room was the third to pass out. The staff was then
ordered to evacuate all emergency room patients to the parking lot outside the hospital. A
skeleton crew stayed behind to stabilize Ramirez. At 8:50, after forty five minutes of CPR and
defibrillation, Ramirez was pronounced dead from kidney failure related to her cancer.

Investigation

The county health department called in California's Department of Health and Human Services,
which put two scientists on the case, Doctors Ana Maria Osorio and Kirsten Waller. They
interviewed 34 hospital staff who had been working in the emergency room on February 19.
Using a standardized questionnaire, Osorio and Waller found that the people who had
developed severe symptoms such as loss of consciousness, shortness of breath, and muscle
spasms tended to have certain things in common. People who had worked within two feet of
Ramirez and had handled her intravenous lines had been at high risk. But other factors that
correlated with severe symptoms didn't seem to match a scenario in which fumes had been
released: the survey found that those afflicted tended to be women rather than men, and they
all had normal blood tests after the exposure.

Theories

Possible role of dimethyl sulfoxide

Dr. Gorchynski denied that she had been affected by mass hysteria, and pointed to her own
medical history as evidence. After the exposure, she spent two weeks in the intensive care
unit with breathing problems; she developed hepatitis and avascular necrosis in her knees.
Eager to clear her name and win her lawsuit against General Hospital in Riverside, she and RN
Susan Kane contacted Livermore Laboratories for a second opinion.

Livermore Labs postulated that Ramirez had been taking dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a
solvent, as a home remedy for pain. Users of this substance report that it has a garlic-like
taste. The Livermore scientists theorized that the DMSO in Ramirez's system might have built
up, due to urinary blockage. Oxygen administered by the paramedics would have combined
with the DMSO to form dimethyl sulfone (DMSO2). DMSO2 is known to crystallize at room
temperature, and crystals were observed in some of Ramirez's drawn blood. Electric shocks
administered during emergency defibrillation could have then converted the DMSO2 into
dimethyl sulfate (DMSO4), a powerful poisonous gas, exposure to which could have caused
the reported symptoms of the emergency room staff.

However, while the conversion from DMSO to DMSO2 may be scientifically plausible, the
subsequent conversion from DMSO2 to DMSO4 inside the human body is questionable at best.
In addition, while DMSO4 is highly volatile, it seems unlikely that it would have completely
evaporated, leaving no trace whatsoever.

Final conclusion and burial

Two months after Ramirez died, her badly decomposed body was released for an independent
autopsy and burial. The Riverside Coroner's Office hailed Livermore's DMSO conclusion as the
probable cause of the hospital workers' symptoms, while her family disagreed. The Ramirez
family's pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death because her heart was missing,
her other organs were cross-contaminated with fecal matter, and her body was too badly
decomposed. Ten weeks after she died, Ramirez was buried in an unmarked grave at
Olivewood Memorial Park in Riverside.

Status of technical forensic analysis

The possible chemical explanation for this incident by Dr. Patrick M. Grant of the Livermore
Forensic Science Center is beginning to appear in basic forensic science textbooks. In Houck
and Siegel's textbook, the authors opine that, although some weaknesses exist, the postulated
scenario is the most scientific explanation to date and that beyond this theory, no credible
explanation has ever been offered for the strange case of Gloria Ramirez.

Everything that Grant ever speculated or concluded about this incident was evaluated by
professional forensic scientists, chemists, and toxicologists, passed peer-review in an
accredited, refereed journal, and was published by Forensic Science International. The first
paper was very technically detailed and did, in fact, give two potential chemical reaction
mechanisms that may possibly have formed dimethyl sulfate from dimethyl sulfoxide and
dimethyl sulfone precursors. The second communication gave supplemental support for the
postulated chemical scenario, as well as insight into some of the sociology and vested
interests inherent in the case.

One of the letters proposed the production of toxic chloramine gas due to urine mixing with
bleach in a nearby sink. This hypothesis, previously proposed to the investigators and to the
medical personnel involved in the incident, was apparently never considered by all involved.
The noxious effects of this gas are documented in the New England Journal of Medicine,
Vol.341:848-849, Sept.9,1999, "Severe Lung Injury after Exposure to Chloramine Gas from
Household Cleaners". In reality, Grant addressed this chloramine scenario in Ref. 8, and it did
not come close to fitting the ER incident.

References

"Analysis of a toxic Death" discoverymagazine.com.
http://www.discovermagazine.com/1995/apr/analysisofatoxic493.
"Case of the fuming body" New Times Los Angeles http:/home.earthlink.net/~hdcr/Fuming.htm.
Mass Suicide at Jonestown
Year 2000 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia

Jonestown, an agricultural commune in northwestern Guyana, was the site, in 1978, of the
mass suicide of more than 900 members of an American religious cult called the People's
Temple, led by James Warren "Jim" Jones (1931-78).

A native of Indiana, Jones founded his church, at first called the Christian Assembly of God, in
Indianapolis, Ind., in the late 1950s. He preached a gospel of social and racial equality to his
integrated congregation, at the same time presenting himself as the only source of survival in
a hostile and soon-to-be-destroyed world. In 1965, Jones and his followers moved to
California, first to Redwood Valley and later to San Francisco. There his revival-style meetings
drew large crowds, and the group's membership swelled to several thousand. The temple also
attracted attention by its programs to help the poor, and in 1976, Jones was appointed
chairman of the San Francisco Housing Authority. Within a year, however, allegations were
heard that the charismatic Jones exercised a sinister power over his followers, extorting
money from them, encouraging sexual promiscuity, and enforcing discipline by beatings and
blackmail. As these stories soon to be proved true broke in the press, Jones and 800 followers
fled to Guyana, where Jones had acquired the Jonestown site in 1974.

In Jonestown the cult members were cut off from the outside world. Guarded by armed
security forces, they received inadequate food, worked as many as 11 hours a day, and were
constantly harangued by their leader. In November 1978, California congressman Leo Ryan
visited the commune to investigate the charges against Jones. On November 18, Ryan and
several of his party were murdered, after which Jones ordered his followers to commit suicide
with him by drinking a concoction of a powdered fruit drink and cyanide. Although some were
forced, many apparently followed the order without question.


Bibliography: Hall, J.R., Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History
(1987); Kilduff, Marshall, and Javers, Ron, The Suicide Cult (1978); Naipaul, Shiva, Journey to
Nowhere: A New World Tragedy (1981); Reston, James, Jr., Our Father Who Art in Hell
(1981).


St. Anthony's Fire
Wikipedia.org

Erysipelas (Greek red skin) (also
known as "Ignis sacer", "holy fire", and "St.
Anthony's fire") is an acute streptococcus
bacterial infection of the deep epidermis with
lymphatic spread.

Risk factors

This disease is most common among the
elderly, infants, and children. People with
immune deficiency, diabetes, alcoholism, skin
ulceration, fungal infections and impaired
lymphatic drainage (e.g., after mastectomy,
pelvic surgery, bypass grafting) are also at
increased risk.

Signs and symptoms

Patients typically develop symptoms including
high fevers, shaking, chills, fatigue,
headaches, vomiting, and general illness
within 48 hours of the initial infection. The
erythematous skin lesion enlarges rapidly and
has a sharply demarcated raised edge. It appears as a red, swollen, warm, hardened and
painful rash, similar in consistency to an orange peel. More severe infections can result in
vesicles, bullae, and petechiae, with possible skin necrosis. Lymph nodes may be swollen, and
lymphedema may occur. Occasionally, a red streak extending to the lymph node can be seen.

The infection may occur on any part of the skin including the face, arms, fingers, legs and
toes, but it tends to favor the extremities. Fat tissue is most susceptible to infection, and facial
areas typically around the eyes, ears, and cheeks. Repeated infection of the extremities can
lead to chronic swelling (lymphadenitis).

Etiology

Most cases of erysipelas are due to Streptococcus pyogenes (also known as beta-hemolytic
group A streptococci), although non-group A streptococci can also be the causative agent.
Historically, the face was most affected; today the legs are affected most often. The rash is
due to an exotoxin, not the Strep. bacteria itself and is found in areas where no bacteria are
present - e.g. the infection may be in the nasopharynx, but the rash is found usually on the
face and arms.

Erysipelas infections can enter the skin through minor trauma, eczema, surgical incisions and
ulcers, and often originate from strep bacteria in the subject's own nasal passages. Infection
sets in after a small scratch or abrasion spreads resulting in toxaemia.

Erysipelas does not affect subcutaneous tissue. It does not release pus, only serum or serous
fluid. Subcutaneous edema may lead the physician to misdiagnose it as cellulitis, but the style
of the rash is much more well circumscribed and sharply marginated than the rash of cellulitis.

Diagnosis

This disease is diagnosed mainly by the appearance of well-demarcated rash and
inflammation. Blood cultures are unreliable for diagnosis of the disease, but may be used to


Erysipelas of the face due to invasive
Streptococcus.

test for sepsis. Erysipelas must be differentiated from herpes zoster, angioedema, contact
dermatitis, and diffuse inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.

Erysipelas can be distinguished from cellulitis by its raised advancing edges and sharp borders.
Elevation of the antistreptolysin O (ASO) titer occurs after around 10 days of illness.

Treatment

Depending on the severity, treatment involves either oral or intravenous antibiotics, using
penicillins, clindamycin or erythromycin. While illness symptoms resolve in a day or two, the
skin may take weeks to return to normal.

Because of the risk of reinfection, prophylactic antibiotics are sometimes used after resolution
of the initial condition. However, this approach does not always stop reinfection.

Complications

Spread of infection to other areas of body through the bloodstream (bacteremia),
including septic arthritis and infective endocarditis (heart valves).
Septic shock.
Recurrence of infectionErysipelas can recur in 1830% of cases even after antibiotic
treatment.
Lymphatic damage
Necrotizing fasciitiscommonly known as "the flesh-eating bug". A potentially deadly
exacerbation of the infection if it spreads to deeper tissue.


Deaths

Patrick Clunie, Sgt., RCR, The South African War, 6 Sep 1900
Egisto C. Palmieri, California's first Italian-American State Senator, 18541901
Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster & author, 17471825
Rev. Robert Lusk, Reformed Presbyterian minister, 1781-1845, noted for his
controversial ecclesiastical career.
Father Solanus Casey, Capuchin monk and 20th Century spiritual figure, 18701957,
USA
Charles Lamb
Princess Amelia, daughter of George III
Miller Huggins, manager of the New York Yankees from 1918 until his death in 1929
James A. Bailey
George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, labeled as a victim of "King Tut's Curse".
Queen Anne of Great Britain
William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of President
James Monroe.
John of the Cross, Spanish poet and mystic
Doc Middleton, outlaw, 18511913
John Stuart Mill; political philosopher most famous for his work On Liberty
Judith of Swabia, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry III
Rudolf Schmundt, victim of the attempt made by Claus von Stauffenberg on the life of
Adolf Hitler.
Herbie Roberts, former Arsenal footballer.
Pope Gregory XVI
Isaac V. Vanderpoel, NYS Treasurer 18581859
Mary Lyon, Educator and Founder of Mt Holyoke Female Seminary.17971849.
John Dryden, English poet (16311700)
Hannah Perkins Battersby, "fat lady" of the Barnum Circus (18411889)
Thomas Diaper, (18291887) Ipswich Poor Union House.
douard Lucas, (18421891) Famous French mathematician, inventor of the Tower of
Hanoi puzzle, discovered that 2127 1 was prime and published 4 large volumes on
recreational mathematics.
John Brown, servant to Queen Victoria
Ann Rogers Clark, mother of General George Rogers Clark, Revolutionary War Hero
and Captain William Clark of Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. Born 1734 Virginia,
died 1799 Louisville, Kentucky
Orlando Metcalfe Poe, Civil War engineer and officer, Great Lakes engineer including
designer of the original Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie, MI.
Saad Zaghloul(1859 1927) Egyptian politician, primeminister 1924-1927.




Fear and Obsession



A list of known Manias and Phobias.
Mania
Wikipedia.org

A

ablutomania, washing or cleaning oneself : [abluto-] (Latin) meaning 'washing'
or 'cleaning' (see ablutophobia, opposite)
aboulomania, indecisiveness : [aboulo-] (Greek) meaning 'irresolution' or
'indecision'
acronymania, acronyms : [acro-] (Greek) meaning 'highest', 'top', 'tip end' or
'outermost' | [-onym, -nym] (Greek) meaning 'name' or 'word'
agromania, being in open spaces : [agro-] (Greek) meaning 'land', 'soil', 'field',
'earth' or 'wild'
aidoiomania, sexual intercourse
ailuromania, cats : [ailuro-] (Greek) meaning 'cat'
alcoholomania, alcohol : [alcohol-] (Arabic > Latin) meaning 'alcohol'
andromania, human sexual behaviour/desire towards males (in females only)
[obsolete - replaced by synonyms: hypersexuality, nymphomania, cytheromania
or hysteromania] : [andro-] (Greek) meaning 'man', 'men', 'male' or 'masculine'
androphonomania, homicidal insanity : [andro-] (Greek) meaning 'man', 'male' |
[phono-] (Greek) meaning 'slaughter', 'kill', 'murder', 'homicide'
anglomania, England and the English (a passion or obsession with the English i.e.
anglophile) (see anglophobia, opposite)
anthomania, flowers : [antho-] (Greek) meaning 'flower' (see anthophobia,
opposite)
aphrodisiomania, sexual interest : [-aphrodisia] (Greek) meaning 'Greek
goddess of love'
apimania, bees (a passion or obsession with bees) : [api-] (Latin) meaning 'bee'
(see ariphobia i.e. fear of bees, opposite)
arithomania, numbers & counting (a passion or obsession with counting)
[synonym - arithmomania] : [arith-] (Greek) meaning 'number'
arithmomania, numbers & counting [synonym - arithomania] : [arithmo-]
(Greek) meaning 'number'

B

balletomania, ballet
Beatlemania, the Beatles (an obsession with the Beatles)
bibliokleptomania, stealing books : [biblio-] (Greek) meaning 'books' | [klepto-]
(Greek) meaning 'stealing' or 'stealing'
bibliomania, books & reading : [biblio-] (Greek) meaning 'books'
Bracteomania, excessive production of bracts, a type of leaf (in plants only) :
[bracte-] (Latin) meaning thin 'plate'
bruxomania, grinding of the teeth : [bruxo-] (Greek) meaning 'grinding or
gnashing the teeth'
brycomania, severe bruxomania

C

cacodaemomania, one's own inhabitation by evil spirits (delusional conviction)
[synonym - cacodemomania] : [caco-] (Greek) meaning 'bad', 'evil' or
'unpleasant') | [daemon-] (Greek) 'devil', 'demon', 'evil spirit', 'an intermediary
spirit between gods and men which could be good or evil'
cacodemomania, one's own inhabitation by evil spirits (delusional conviction)
[synonym - cacodaemomania] : [caco-] (Greek) meaning 'bad', 'evil' or
'unpleasant') | [demon-] (Greek) 'devil', 'demon', 'evil spirit', 'an intermediary
spirit between gods and men which could be good or evil'
cacospectomania, staring at repulsive things : [caco-] (Greek: 'bad', 'evil' or
'unpleasant') | [spect-] (Latin) meaning 'see', 'look', 'behold' or 'examine')
capnomanioa, smoking tobacco products : [capno-] (Greek) meaning 'smoke',
'sooty' or 'carbon dioxide'
callomania, one's own beauty (delusional conviction) : [callo-] (Greek) meaning
'beautiful'
catapedamania, jumping from high places : [cata-] (Greek] meaning 'downward'
or 'lower' | [ped-] (Greek) 'ground', 'earth'
cheromania, gaiety
chinamania, china
chiomomania, snow : [chion-] (Greek) meaning 'snow' or 'like snow'
chiromania, masturbation (in males only) : [chiro-] (Greek) meaning 'hand' or
'pertaining to the hand or hands'
choreomania, dancing [synonym - choromania] : [choreo-] (Greek) meaning
'dance'
choromania, dancing [synonym - choreomania] : [choro-] (Greek) meaning
'dance'
clinomania, excessive desire to stay in bed
cremnomania, climbing cliffs : [cremno-] (Latin) meaning 'precipice', 'cliff' or
'crag').
cresomania, great wealth
chloralomania, chloral (alcohol and chlorine)
copromania, feces : [copro-] (Greek) meaning 'feces', 'excrement', 'filth'
cynomania, dogs : [cyno-] (Greek) meaning 'dog'
cytheromania, human sexual behaviour/desire towards males (in females only)
[synonyms - nymphomania & hysteromania] : [cyther-] (Greek) referring to
'Kytheria' - another name for Venus (Roman goddess of love) or Aphrodite (Greek
goddess of love)

D

dacnomania, the obsession with killing.
decidomania, decisions {see decidophobia}.
demonomania, one's own demonic possession (delusional conviction).
dendromania, trees and forest : [dendro-] (Greek) meaning 'tree').
decalcomania, decal (decorative technique of transferring specially prepared
paper prints to ceramic surfaces i.e. glass, porcelain, etc.).
desanimania, mindless insanity (condition) : [anim-] (Latin) 'living', 'soul' or
'mind'
dermatillomania, picking at the skin.
dinomania, dancing [alternate definition: - dinosaur obsession].
dinomania, dinosaurs [alternate definition: - dancing obsession].
dipsomania, alcohol : [dipso-] (Greek) meaning 'thirst'.
discomania, disco music
doramania, furs ownership
doromania, giving gifts : [dat-, dow-, don-, dit-] (Greek > Latin) meaning 'to
give', 'to grant' or 'to offer'.
drapetomania, running away from home [pseudoscience]
dromomania, travel
dysmorphomania, one's physical deformity or abnormality (delusional
conviction)

E

ecdemomania, wandering : [ecdemo-] (Greek) meaning 'away from home').
ecomania, family dominance but authority submission : [eco-] (Greek) meaning
'home, household affairs').
edeomania, genitals : [edeo-] (Greek) meaning 'genitals' literally, 'those things
that are regarded with reverence or awe'.
egomania, oneself and self-worship : [ego-] (Latin) meaning 'I - first
person/singular pronoun').
eleutheromania, freedom : [eleuthero-] (Greek) meaning 'freedom'.
emetomania, vomiting : [emeto-] (Greek) meaning 'regurgitate'.
empleomania, holding public office.
enomania, wine [synonym oenomania] : [oeno-, eno-] (Greek) meaning 'wine'.
enosimania, one's own sinful behaviour (delusional conviction)
entheomania, one's divine inspiration (delusional conviction) : [theo-] (Greek)
meaning 'deity' or 'divine').
entomomania, insects : [entomon] (Greek) meaning 'insect'
epomania, writing epics
eremiomania, stillness and solitude : [eraemia] (Greek) meaning 'solitude'
ergasiomania, work [synonym - ergomania] : [ergasio- or ergo-] (Greek)
meaning 'work'.
ergomania, work [synonym - ergasiomania] : [ergasio- or ergo-] (Greek)
meaning 'work'.
erotomania, 1) sexual desire 2) sexual attraction from strangers (delusional
conviction) : [eroto-] (Greek) meaning 'sexual passion' or 'desire'.
erythomania, blushing
esthesiomania, insanity with sensory hallucinations [condition] : [esthesio-]
(Greek) meaning 'sensation' or 'perception'.
etheromania, ether : [ethero-] (Greek > Latin) meaning 'upper air' or 'sky'.
ethnomania, one's own people : [ethno-] (Greek) meaning 'race', 'nation',
'family' or 'community'.
eulogomania, eulogies


F

flagellomania, flogging : [flagello-] (Latin) meaning 'whip'.
florimania, flowers : [flori-] (Latin) meaning 'flower'.
francomania, France and the French [see gallomania]
fumomania, smoking : [fum-] (Latin) 'smoke', 'vapor'

G

gallomania, France and the French [see francomania] : [gallo-] (Latin) meaning
'pertaining to Gaul'.
gamomania, issuing odd and/or extravagant marriage proposals : [gamo-]
(Greek) meaning 'marriage' or 'wedding').
Graecomania, Greece and the Greeks [see Hellenomania]
graphomania, writing : [grapho-] (Greek) meaning 'to write'.
gynaecomania, sexual interest for women : [gynaeco-] (Greek) meaning
'woman'.

H

habromania, gaiety and euphoria
hagiomania, sainthood : [hagio-] (Greek) meaning 'sacred' or 'holy'
Hellenomania, Greece and the Greeks [see Graecomania]
hexametromania, hexameter writing
hieromania, religious visions : [hiero-] (Greek) meaning 'sacred' or 'holy'.
hippomania, 1) horses (A passion or obsession with horses[1] as well as a
madness in horses[2]) : [hippo-] (Greek) meaning 'horse' [see hippophobia
(opposite)] 2) hippopotamuses (passion or obsession with hippopotamuses [3] :
[hippo-] (Greek) meaning 'horse' & [ potamos ] (Greek) meaning 'river'.
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliomania, long words (excessive and persistent
use of long words) [see hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliomania (opposite)]
hydromania, water : [hydro-] (Greek) meaning 'water'.
hylomania, 1) materialism : [hylo-] (Greek) meaning 'materialism' or 'wood' 2)
wood : [hylo-] (Greek) meaning 'materialism' or 'wood'.
hypermania, (severe mania) mental state with high intensity disorientation and
often violent behavior - symptomatic of bipolar disorder : [hyper-] (Greek)
meaning 'abnormal excess'.
hypomania, (mild mania) mental state with persistent and pervasive elevated or
irritable mood - symptomatic of manic-depression : [hypo-] (Greek) meaning
'deficient'.
hysteromania, human sexual behaviour/desire towards males (females only)
[synonyms - nymphomania, cytheromania] : [hystero-] (Greek) meaning "the
womb' or 'uterus'.

I

iconomania, icons or portraits
idolomania, idols
infomania, fact accumulation
islomania, islands
Italomania, Italy or Italians

K

kleptomania, stealing [synonym klopemania]
klopemania, stealing [synonym kleptomania]


L

logomania, Wordy and talkative i.e. loquacity
lypemania, mournfulness
Lisztomania, Franz Liszt (an obsession with Franz Liszt)

M

macromania, objects larger than natural size
mania, severely elevated mood
Maniamania, Manias
megalomania, wealth and power
monomania, a single object, type of object, or concept.
melomania, music
methomania, alcohol
metromania, writing verse
micromania, self-deprecation
misomania, hatred of everything, obsession of hating some subject or group
monomania, single thought or idea
morphinomania, morphine
morsusmania, biting :[morsus-] (Latin) meaning bite, eat or devour
musomania, music
mythomania, lying

N

narcomania, narcotics
necromania, sexual with dead bodies [synonym - necrophilia]
nymphomania, an obsolete term for female hypersexuality
nosomania, one's own suffering of disease

O

oenomania, wine
oligomania, a couple of thoughts, ideas or subjects
onomatomania, word repetition
oniomania, desire to shop
onomamania, names
onychotillomania, picking at the fingernails
opiomania, opium
opsomania, one kind of food
orchidomania, orchids


P

parousiamania, The second coming of Christ
paramania, complaints
pathomania, moral insanity
phagomania, excessive desire for food or eating
phaneromania, biting ones nails
pharmacomania, trying drugs
phonomania, murdering people
photomania, light
phyllomania, excessive or abnormal leaf production (in plants only) : phyllo-
(Greek), meaning 'leaf or sheet'
phytomania, collecting plants : phyto- (Greek), meaning 'plant'
planomania, wander free from social restraints or obligations : plano- (Greek)
meaning 'passively drifting, wandering, or roaming'
plutomania, money or wealth : ploutos- (Greek), meaning 'wealth'
polemomania, war : polemo- (Greek), meaning 'battle'
politicomania, politics
polkamania, polka dancing
polymania, mania affecting several different mental faculties
poriomania, wandering or journeying away from home : poreia (Greek) meaning
'journey'
pornomania, pornography
potichomania, imitating Oriental porcelain
potomania, caused by drinking alcohol
Pottermania, Harry Potter
pseudomania, 1) lying or falsity; 2) Feigned insanity; 3) Falsely alleging
responsibility for a crime.
pteridomania, ferns
pyromania, fire or starting fires
R

rhinotillexomania, nose picking : rhino- (Greek) meaning "nose"; tillexis-
(Greek) meaning "to pluck, tear, pull or pick at"
rinkomania, skating

S
satyromania, sexual desire (in males only) : satyrisis (Late Latin); saturisis
(Greek), Excessive, often uncontrollable sexual desire in and behavior by a man :
satyr (Greek > Latin) meaning a "woodland deity, part man and part goat; riotous
merriment and lechery"
scribbleomania, scribbling
sebastomania, religious insanity
sitiomania, appetite : sitio- (Greek) meaning "food; eating; appetite"
sophomania, belief in one's own incredible intelligence
squandermania, spending money wastefully
stampomania, stamp-collecting
syphilomania, belief in one's own syphilis affliction


T

technomania, technology
Teutomania, Teutonic or German things
thanatomania, belief in one's own infection by "death magic" and the resulting
illness
theatromania, performing plays
theomania, one's own divinity or one's divine mission.
timbromania, stamp collecting
trichotillomania, hair removal
tomomania, performing surgery
toxicomania, poisons
trichotillomania, removing one's own hair
titillomaniac, scratching
tulipomania, tulips
typhomania, typhus fever delirium
typomania, printing ones works

U

uranomania, divinity

V

verbomania, words

X

xenomania, foreign things

Z

zoomania, animals (an obsession with animals) (see zoophobia, opposite)

Phobia
Wikipedia.org


A

Ablutophobia fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning
Achluophobia fear of darkness
Acrophobia fear of heights
Agoraphobia, Agoraphobia Without History of Panic Disorder fear of places or
events where escape is impossible or when help is unavailable. Fear of open spaces or
of being in public places. Fear of leaving a safe place
Agraphobia fear of sexual abuse
Agrizoophobia fear of wild animals
Agyrophobia fear of crossing the road
Aichmophobia fear of sharp or pointed objects (such as a needle or knife)
Ailurophobia fear of cats
Algophobia - fear of pain
Androphobia fear of men
Anthophobia fear of flowers
Anthropophobia fear of people or the company of people, a form of social phobia.
Aquaphobia fear of water. Distinct from Hydrophobia, a scientific property that
makes chemicals averse to interaction with water, as well as an archaic name for
rabies
Arachnophobia fear of spiders
Astraphobia fear of thunder and lightning
Atychiphobia fear of failure
Autophobia fear of being alone or isolated
Automatonophobia fear of anything that falsely represents a sentient being
Aviophobia, Aviatophobia fear of flying

B

Blood-injection-injury type phobia a DSM-IV subtype of specific phobias

C

Chaetophobia fear of hair
Chemophobia fear of chemicals
Chiroptophobia fear of bats
Chromophobia - fear of bright colors
Chronophobia fear of time and time moving forward
Cibophobia, Sitophobia aversion to food, synonymous to Anorexia nervosa
Claustrophobia fear of having no escape and being closed in
Coulrophobia fear of clowns (not restricted to evil clowns)
Cyberphobia fear of or aversion to computers / Learning new technologies

D

Decidophobia fear of making decisions
Dentophobia, Odontophobia fear of dentists and dental procedures
Dipsophobia fear of drinking alcohol
Disposophobia fear of getting rid of or losing things sometimes wrongly defined
as "compulsive hoarding"
Dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder a phobic obsession with a real or
imaginary body defect

E

Emetophobia fear of vomiting
Ergasiophobia fear of work or functioning, or a surgeon's fear of operating
Ergophobia fear of work or functioning
Erotophobia fear of sexual love or sexual abuse
Erythrophobia pathological blushing

F

Friggatriskaidekaphobia, Paraskavedekatriaphobia, *Paraskevidekatriaphobia
fear of Friday the 13th
Frigophobia fear of becoming too cold

G

Gamophobia fear of marriage, commitment
Gelotophobia fear of being laughed at
Gephyrophobia fear of bridges
Genophobia, Coitophobia fear of sexual intercourse
Gerascophobia fear of growing old or aging
Gerontophobia fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly
Glossophobia fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak
Gymnophobia fear of nudity
Gynophobia fear of women.

H
Hadephobia (also stigiophobia and stygiophobia) fear of Hell
Halitophobia fear of bad breath
Haphephobia fear of being touched
Heliophobia fear of sunlight
Hemophobia, Haemophobia fear of blood
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia fear of the number 666
Hoplophobia fear of weapons, specifically firearms (Generally a political term but
the clinical phobia is also documented)
Homophobia fear of homosexuals or of homosexual relationships; homophobic
Hylophobia fear of trees, forests or wood
Hypnophobia or somniphobia fear of sleep.

I

Ichthyophobia fear of fish, including fear of eating fish, or fear of dead fish
Ipovlopsychophobia fear of having ones photograph taken.

L

Lipophobia fear/avoidance of fats in food

M

Mysophobia fear of germs, contamination or dirt

N

Necrophobia fear of death and/or the dead
Neophobia, Cainophobia, Cainotophobia, Centophobia, Kainolophobia,
Kainophobia fear of newness, novelty
Nomophobia fear of being out of mobile phone contact
Nosocomephobia fear of hospitals
Nosophobia fear of contracting a disease
Nyctophobia, Achluophobia, Lygophobia, Scotophobia fear of darkness

O

Obesophobia fear of obesity
Oikophobia fear of home surroundings and household appliances
Ombrophobia fear of rain
Omphalophobia fear of bellybuttons
Ophthalmophobia fear of being stared at
Ornithophobia - fear of birds
Osmophobia, Olfactophobia fear of bad odours

P

Panphobia fear of everything or constant fear of an unknown cause
Papaphobia fear of the Pope
Pediophobia fear of dolls (a branch of automatonophobia: fear of humanoid
figures)
Phagophobia fear of swallowing
Pharmacophobia fear of medications
Philophobia fear of love
Phobophobia fear of having a phobia
Phonophobia fear of loud sounds
Pteromerhanophobia fear of being on an airplane
Pyrophobia fear of fire

R

Radiophobia fear of radioactivity or X-rays

S

Sociophobia fear of people or social situations
Scopophobia fear of being looked at or stared at
Somniphobia fear of sleep
Spasmenagaliaphobia (neologism; no official name) fear of broken glass[5]
Spectrophobia fear of ghosts and phantoms
Stygiophobia fear of Hell

T

Taphophobia, Taphephobia fear of the grave, or fear of being placed in a grave
while still alive
Technophobia fear of technology (see also Luddite)
Telephone phobia fear or reluctance of making or taking phone calls
Tetraphobia fear of the number 4
Thalassophobia fear of the sea, or fear of being in the ocean
Thanatophobia fear of dying
Thermophobia fear of heat
Tokophobia fear of childbirth or pregnancy
Traumatophobia a synonym for injury phobia: fear of having an injury
Trichophobia a morbid disgust caused by the sight of loose hairs
Triskaidekaphobia, Terdekaphobia fear of the number 13
Trypanophobia, Belonephobia, Enetophobia fear of needles or injections
Trypophobia fear of holes

U

Uranophobia, Ouranophobia fear of Heaven

W

Workplace phobia fear of the workplace

X

Xanthophobia fear of the colour yellow
Xenophobia fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens
Xylophobia, Hylophobia, Ylophobia fear of trees, forests or wood

Animal phobias

Agrizoophobia fear of wild animals
Ailurophobia fear/dislike of cats
Apiphobia fear/dislike of bees (also known as melissophobia, from the Greek
melissa "bee")
Arachnophobia fear/dislike of spiders and other arachnids
Bovinophobia fear/dislike of cattle
Chiroptophobia fear/dislike of bats
Cynophobia fear/dislike of dogs
Entomophobia fear/dislike of insects
Equinophobia fear/dislike of horses (also known as Hippophobia)
Herpetophobia fear/dislike of reptiles and/or amphibians
Ichthyophobia fear/dislike of fish
Mottephobia fear/dislike of butterflies and/or moths
Murophobia fear/dislike of mice and/or rats
Ophidiophobia fear/dislike of snakes
Ornithophobia fear/dislike of birds
Ranidaphobia fear/dislike of frogs
Selachophobia fear of sharks
Scoleciphobia fear of worms
Zoophobia fear of animals

Non-psychological conditions

Photophobia hypersensitivity to light causing aversion to light
Phonophobia hypersensitivity to sound causing aversion to sounds.
Osmophobia hypersensitivity to smells causing aversion to odors.

Biology, chemistry

Biologists use a number of -phobia/-phobic terms to describe predispositions by plants and
animals against certain conditions. For antonyms, see here.

Acidophobia/Acidophobic preference for non-acidic conditions.
Heliophobia/Heliophobic aversion to sunlight.
Hydrophobia/Hydrophobic a property of being repelled by water.
Lipophobicity a property of fat rejection
Oleophobicity a property of oil rejection
Ombrophobia avoidance of rain[7]
Photophobia (biology) a negative phototaxis or phototropism response, or a
tendency to stay out of the light
Superhydrophobe the property given to materials that are extremely difficult to
get wet.
Thermophobia aversion to heat.


Prejudices and discrimination

The suffix -phobia is used to coin terms that denote a particular anti-ethnic or anti-
demographic sentiment, such as Americanophobia, Europhobia, Francophobia, Hispanophobia,
and Indophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists (e.g. Polonophobia vs.
anti-Polonism). Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and
Islamophobia. Sometimes the terms themselves could even be considered racist, as with
"Negrophobia."

Other prejudices include:

Anglophobia fear/dislike of England or English culture, etc.
Biphobia fear/dislike of bisexuality or bisexuals.
Christianophobia fear/dislike of Christians
Ephebiphobia fear/dislike of youth.
Germanophobia fear/dislike of Germans.
Gerontophobia, Gerascophobia fear/dislike of aging or the elderly.
Heterophobia fear/dislike of heterosexuals.
Homophobia fear/dislike of homosexuality or homosexuals.
Islamophobia fear/dislike of Muslims
Judeophobia fear/dislike of Jews.
Lesbophobia fear/dislike of lesbians.
Negrophobia fear/dislike of Black people.
Nipponophobia fear/dislike of the Japanese.
Pedophobia, Pediophobia fear/dislike of children.
Polonophobia fear/dislike of the Polish.
Psychophobia fear/dislike of mental illness or the mentally ill.
Russophobia fear/dislike of the Russians.
Sinophobia fear/dislike of Chinese.
Transphobia fear/dislike of transgendered people.
Turcophobia fear/dislike of the Turks
Xenophobia fear/dislike of foreigners or extraterrestrials.

Jocular and fictional phobias

Aibohphobia a joke term for the fear of palindromes, which is a palindrome itself.
The term is a piece of computer humor entered into the 1981 The Devil's DP
Dictionary
Anachrophobia fear of temporal displacement, from a Doctor Who novel by
Jonathan Morris.
Anatidaephobia the fictional fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching
you. From Gary Larson's The Far Side.
Anoraknophobia a portmanteau of "anorak" and "arachnophobia". Used in the
Wallace and Gromit comic book Anoraknophobia. Also the title of an album by
Marillion.
Arachibutyrophobia fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. The
word is used by Charles M. Schulz in a 1982 installment of his "Peanuts" comic strip
and by Peter O'Donnell in his 1985 Modesty Blaise adventure novel Dead Man's
Handle.
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia fear of long words. Hippopoto "big"
due to its allusion to the Greek-derived word hippopotamus (though this is derived as
hippo- "horse" compounded with potam-os "river", so originally meaning "river horse";
according to the Oxford English, "hippopotamine" has been construed as large since
1847, so this coinage is reasonable); -monstr- is from Latin words meaning
"monstrous", -o- is a noun-compounding vowel; -sesquipedali- comes from
"sesquipedalian" meaning a long word (literally "a foot and a half long" in Latin), -o- is
a noun-compounding vowel, and -phobia means "fear". Note: This was mentioned on
the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as one of Tickle's Teasers.
Keanuphobia fear of Keanu Reeves, portrayed in the Dean Koontz book, False
Memory, where a woman has an irrational fear of Keanu Reeves and has to see her
psychiatrist, Mark Ahriman, each week, unaware that she only has the fear in the first
place because the psychotic Ahriman implanted it via hypnotic suggestion to amuse
himself. He calls her the "Keanuphobe" in his head.
Luposlipaphobia fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table
while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor, also from Gary Larson's The Far Side.
Monkeyphobia fear of monkeys, as named by Lord Monkey Fist in the animated
series Kim Possible. Due to spending a summer in a cabin with a crazy chimp mascot,
Ron Stoppable has a fear of monkeys, which he gets over several times, usually during
battles with Monkey Fist, who is essentially Ron's arch-nemesis.
Nihilophobia fear of nothingness (comes from the combination of the Latin word
nihil which means nothing, none, and the suffix -phobia), as described by the Doctor
in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Night. Voyager's morale officer and chef Neelix
suffers from this condition, having panic attacks while the ship was traversing a dark
expanse of space known as the Void. It is also the title of a 2008 album by
Neuronium. Also, the animated version of George of the Jungle (2007 TV series) is
seen suffering in one episode of the cartoon, where they are telling scary stories.
Robophobia Irrational fear of robots and/or androids, also known as "Grimwade's
Syndrome". First heard in the Doctor Who story The Robots of Death.
Semaphobia fear of average Web developers to use Semantic Web technologies.
Venustraphobia fear of beautiful women, according to a 1998 humorous article
published by BBC News.[1] The word is a portmanteau of "Venus trap" and "phobia".
Venustraphobia is the title of a 2006 album by Casbah Club.




Rare Diseases



After reading this, youd probably wish that youll never be part of the
small percentage of people carrying this deadly and mysterious
disease in their genes.

*Rare Genetic Disorders


Alkaptonuria
Cockayne syndrome
Cri du chat (CDC)
Hereditary angioedema (HAE)
Kartagener's syndrome
Krabbe disease
Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome (LMBBS)
Marfan syndrome
Mucopolysaccharidosis VI
Myotonic dystrophy
Neurofibromatosis
Osteogenesis imperfecta
Poland anomaly
Porphyria
Progeria
Retinitis Pigmentosa
Seckel syndrome
Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID
Shprintzen syndrome
Sickle cell disease
Tay-Sachs disease
Thalassemia
Trimethylaminuria
Tuberous sclerosis
WAGR syndrome
Wilson disease

*Pygmies and Bantus
Proteus Syndrome

Proteus syndrome is a congenital disorder
that causes skin overgrowth and atypical
bone development, often accompanied by
tumours over half the body. Since Dr.
Michael Cohen identified it in 1979, only a
few more than 200 cases have been
confirmed worldwide, with estimates that
about 120 people are currently alive with the
condition. There may be many more than
this, but those individuals correctly
diagnosed usually have the most obvious
manifestations of Proteus syndrome, leaving
them severely disfigured. Proteus syndrome
is named after the Greek sea-god Proteus,
who could change his shape.

There was a program about the boy with
frozen bones which shows nine year-old
Jordan who is full of hope and vitality. But
Jordans body is not ordinary. He was born
with a rare genetic condition called Proteus
Syndrome, the same condition that afflicted
John Merrick, The Elephant Man.





Please do read about Jordan here:
http://www.proteus-syndrome.org.uk/sections.php?name=Jordan
Trisonomy 18
One of the rare genetic diseases and disorders that affect children, this medical condition is
caused due to an extra chromosome of the 18 number. At birth, the babies are low weight,
and manifest severe problems while swallowing and breathing. Most of the affected babies die
before they turn one year. Even though there is no cure for this genetic disease, the treatment
is focused on improving the health of the child by increasing nutrient absorption. Also,
supportive therapies are taken up to help them learn motor skills.

Urea Cycle Disorder
Urea cycle is a normal biochemical process, which involves converting nitrogen into urea for
removal via urination. Urea cycle disorder is characterized by inability of the body's
mechanism to get rid of ammonia from the blood, thereby, causing poisoning effects. The
cause for this inherited genetic disease is deficiency of one enzyme that plays a specific role in
removing ammonia. Fortunately, prompt treatment is received by patients with therapeutic
intervention.

Fragile X Syndrome
Another in the list of genetic disorders is fragile X syndrome. Over here, the 'X' chromosome
of the affected child is weakened or already broken. Ultimately, the normal functioning of the
chromosome is impaired due to lack of some portion. The physical symptoms of fragile X
syndrome are narrow face, high palate and flat feet; while mental conditions include
irritability, mood swings, speech problems and mental retardation.

Hereditary Fructose Intolerance
As the name goes, an individual diagnosed with this type of genetic disorder manifests
hypersensitivity to fructose and cannot digest it. The cause is lack of an enzyme (fructose-1-
phosphate aldolase) that is crucial for fructose metabolism or conversion of fructose to glucose
form. Digestive problems and severe abdominal discomfort are experienced after consuming
foods that contain fructose. Treatment involves eliminating foods containing fructose from the
diet.


*Rare Diseases and Disorders


Apert Syndrome

The Apert syndrome is a congenital disorder. It is characterized by the malformed skull, face,
hands and feet. The fingers or toes are fused together and some patients also show Synechia.
This is fusion of two or more nails of the digits. This is a slow progressive disease, where the
joints continue to grow with age.

Bloom Syndrome

This is a rare autosomal recessive chromosomal disorder. The Bloom syndrome (BLM) or
Bloom-Torre-Machacek syndrome is characterized by patients with short stature. They have a
facial rash developing after they are exposed to sun. The rash looks like a butterfly shaped
patch of red skin on the cheeks. These patients also have distinctive facial features,
micrognathism of mandible, high-pitched voice, dilated blood vessels, etc. There are many
more symptoms associated with this disease like diabetes, infertility in males, and a few
patients suffer from mental retardation. You would be interested to learn more about a rare
brain disorder called Ataxia Telangiectasia Syndrome.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome

This is a very rare degenerative neurological disorder. The symptoms of this disease include
dementia, memory loss, hallucinations as well as changes in personality. This is a progressive
disease that causes death of nerve cells of the brain. This is an incurable and fatal disease.

Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase Deficiency

This is the rarest disease in the world with just one patient diagnosed with the condition. The
symptoms of the rare diseases were diagnosed after the affected boy was diagnosed with
leukoencephalopathy. The patient had an increase in polyols arabitol, ribitol and erythritol in
his SPECT profile. This disorder causes mutation in the pentose phosphate pathway enzyme.

Zellweger Syndrome

This is a rare congenital disorder, named after Hans Zellweger, who researched on this
disorder. This is an autosomal recessive disorder that is caused by mutation of genes. It
causes impairment of multiple organ system due to accumulation of lipids. Most patients do
not survive beyond the age of one.


Encephalitis lethargica

Encephalitis lethargica or von Economo disease is an atypical form of encephalitis. Also
known as "sleepy sickness" (though different from the sleeping sickness transmitted by the
tsetse fly), it was first described by the neurologist Constantin von Economo in 1917. The
disease attacks the brain, leaving some victims in a statue-like condition, speechless and
motionless. Between 1915 and 1926, an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica spread around the
world; no recurrence of the epidemic has since been reported, though isolated cases continue
to occur.

Symptoms

Encephalitis lethargica is characterized by high fever, sore throat, headache, lethargy, double
vision, delayed physical and mental response, sleep inversion and catatonia. In severe cases,
patients may enter a coma-like state (akinetic mutism). Patients may also experience
abnormal eye movements ("oculogyric crises"), parkinsonism, upper body weakness, muscular
pains, tremors, neck rigidity, and behavioral changes including psychosis. Klazomania (a vocal
tic) is sometimes present.

Postencephalitic parkinsonism may develop after a bout of encephalitis, sometimes as long as
a year after the start of the illness.

Cause

The cause of encephalitis lethargica is not known for certain.

Research in 2004 suggested that the disease is due to an immune reaction. In this study,
many of the people with encephalitis lethargica had experienced recent pharyngitis and the
authors found some evidence linking the reaction to prior streptococcal throat. They
hypothesised that encephalitis lethargica, Sydenham's chorea and PANDAS (pediatric
autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections) are mediated
by variations of the post-streptococcal immune response.


There is also some evidence of an autoimmune origin with antibodies (IgG) from patients with
encephalitis lethargica binding to neurons in the basal ganglia and mid-brain. Western
immunoblotting showed that 95% of encephalitis lethargica patients had autoantibodies
reactive against human basal ganglia antigens. By contrast, antibodies reactive against the
basal ganglia were found in only 2-4% of child and adult controls (n = 173, P < 0.0001).

Some researchers believe that new data supports the influenza hypothesis, while others
consider this less likely.

Jang et al. (2009) at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA, discovered that a H5N1 Bird
Flu (strain A/VN/1203/1204) infection in mice causes severe loss of tyrosine-hydroxylase
positive dopaminergic neurons 60 days after infection by provoking a destructive autoimmune
response, thus suggesting the infection by certain strains of flu might increase the risk of
Parkinson's disease in humans. While Jang et al. (2009) acknowledge research that shows the
virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic (a type A influenza subtype H1N1) unlike H5N1 Bird
Flu did not infect the brain, they propose that a distal infection might have provoked an
autoimmune mediated destruction of dopaminergic neurons, while leaving no direct evidence
of brain infection.

Treatment

L-DOPA
Treatment for encephalitis lethargica in the early stages is patient stabilization, which may be
very difficult. There is little evidence so far of a consistent effective treatment for the initial
stages, though some patients given steroids have seen improvement. Other patients have
been less fortunate, and the disease then becomes progressive, with evidence of brain
damage similar to Parkinson's disease. Treatment is then symptomatic. Levodopa (L-DOPA)
and other anti-parkinson drugs often produce dramatic responses. However, in most of the
patients who were given L-DOPA in the 1960s, the amelioration of the disease was short lived.
The course of encephalitis lethargica varies depending upon complications or accompanying
disorders.

The drug Zolpidem, commonly used as a sleeping pill, has been reported to be successful at
treating encephalitis lethargic.

Salem witch trials

Historian Laurie Winn Carlson has advanced the idea that encephalitis lethargica is the
explanation for the symptoms of the afflicted in New England during the 17th century, which
ultimately resulted in the Salem witch trials. Carlson writes: "By comparing the symptoms
reported by seventeenth-century colonists with those of patients affected by the encephalitis
lethargica epidemic of the early twentieth century, a pattern of symptoms emerges [which]
supports the hypothesis that the witch-hunts of New England were a response to unexplained
physical and neurological behaviors resulting from an epidemic of encephalitis."



*Rare Diseases in Children


Acaeruloplasminemia
Achondroplasia
Congenital atransferrinaemia
Cri du chat syndrome
Cystic fibrosis
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)
GRACILE syndrome
Hemophilia
Mermaid Syndrome
Microcephaly
Phenylalanine hydroxylase
Prader-Willi syndrome
Progeria
Tay-Sachs disease

*Rare Blood Diseases


Aase Syndrome
Angioedema
Antithrombin III Deficiency
Aplastic Anemia
Blackfan Diamond Anemia
Cor Triatriatum
Dilatation of the Pulmonary Artery, Idiopathic
Edema, Idiopathic
Endocardial Fibroelastosis (EFE)
Factor XIII Deficiency
Fanconi's Anemia
Heart Block, Congenital
Hemangioma Thrombocytopenia Syndrome
Hemolytic, Warm Antibody Anemia
Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia, Hereditary
Hereditary Nonspherocytic Hemolytic Anemia
Hereditary Spherocytic Hemolytic Anemia
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
Lymphedema, Hereditary
Maffucci Syndrome
Mantle Cell Lymphoma
Megaloblastic Anemia
Pernicious Anemia
Perniosis
Polycythemia Vera
Pure Red Cell Aplasia, Acquired
Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency
Thalassemia Minor
Vitamin B12 Deficiency
Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia


Rare Skin Diseases


Necrotizing fasciitis
Wikipedia.org


Necrotizing fasciitis (NF), commonly
known as flesh-eating disease or
Flesh-eating bacteria syndrome, is
a rare infection of the deeper layers of
skin and subcutaneous tissues, easily
spreading across the fascial plane
within the subcutaneous tissue.

Necrotizing fasciitis is a quickly
progressing and severe disease of
sudden onset and is usually treated
immediately with high doses of
intravenous antibiotics.

Type I describes a polymicrobial infection, whereas Type II describes a monomicrobial
infection. Many types of bacteria can cause necrotizing fasciitis (e.g., Group A streptococcus
(Streptococcus pyogenes), Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio vulnificus, Clostridium perfringens,
Bacteroides fragilis). Such infections are more likely to occur in people with compromised
immune systems.

Historically, Group A streptococcus made up most cases of Type II infections. However, since
as early as 2001, another serious form of monomicrobial necrotizing fasciitis has been
observed with increasing frequency. In these cases, the bacterium causing it is methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a strain of S. aureus that is resistant to methicillin,
the antibiotic used in the laboratory that determines the bacterium's sensitivity to flucloxacillin
or nafcillin that would be used for treatment clinically.

Several studies have demonstrated a link between absorption of non-steroidal anti-
inflammatory drugs and flesh-eating disease, though it has not been established whether the
drugs just masked the symptoms or were a cause per se.

Signs and symptoms

Over 70% of cases are recorded in patients with one of the following clinical situations:
immunosuppression, diabetes, alcoholism/drug abuse, malignancies, and chronic systemic
diseases. It occasionally occurs in people with an apparently normal general condition.

The infection begins locally at a site of trauma, which may be severe (such as the result of
surgery), minor, or even non-apparent. Patients usually complain of intense pain that may
seem excessive given the external appearance of the skin. With progression of the disease,
often within hours, tissue becomes swollen. Diarrhea and vomiting are also common
symptoms.

In the early stages, signs of inflammation may not be apparent if the bacteria are deep within
the tissue. If they are not deep, signs of inflammation, such as redness and swollen or hot
skin, develop very quickly. Skin color may progress to violet, and blisters may form, with
subsequent necrosis (death) of the subcutaneous tissues.

Patients with necrotizing fasciitis typically have a fever and appear very ill. Mortality rates
have been noted as high as 73 percent if left untreated. Without surgery and medical
assistance, such as antibiotics, the infection will rapidly progress and will eventually lead to
death.

Pathophysiology

"Flesh-eating bacteria" is a misnomer, as the bacteria do not actually "eat" the tissue. They
cause the destruction of skin and muscle by releasing toxins (virulence factors), which include
streptococcal pyogenic exotoxins. S. pyogenes produces an exotoxin known as a superantigen.
This toxin is capable of activating T-cells non-specifically, which causes the overproduction of
cytokines and severe systemic illness (Toxic shock syndrome).

Diagnosis

LRINEC score

Free air in the soft tissues due to necrotizing fasciitis
Necrotising fascitis causing air in soft tissues

The Laboratory Risk Indicator for Necrotizing Fasciitis (LRINEC) score can be utilized to risk
stratify patients presenting with signs of cellulitis to determine the likelihood of necrotizing
fasciitis being present. It uses six serologic measures: C-reactive protein, total white cell
count, hemoglobin, sodium, creatinine and glucose. A score greater than 6 indicates that
necrotizing fasciitis should be seriously considered. The scoring criteria are as follows

CRP (mg/L) >150 - 4 points
WBC count (per mm3)
<15 - 0 points
15-25 - 1 point
>25 - 2 points
Hemoglobin (g/dL)
>13.5 - 0 points
11-13.5 - 1 point
<11 - 2 points
Sodium (mmol/L) <135 - 2 points
Creatinine (umol/L) >141 - 2 points
Glucose (mmol/L) >10 - 1 point

Treatment

Left: Necrotic tissue from the left leg is being
surgically debrided in a patient with
necrotizing fasciitis (same patient as above).

Patients are typically taken to surgery based
on a high index of suspicion, determined by
the patient's signs and symptoms. In
necrotizing fasciitis, aggressive surgical
debridement (removal of infected tissue) is
always necessary to keep it from spreading
and is the only treatment available. Diagnosis
is confirmed by visual examination of the
tissues and by tissue samples sent for
microscopic evaluation.

Early medical treatment is often presumptive; thus, antibiotics should be started as soon as
this condition is suspected. Initial treatment often includes a combination of intravenous
antibiotics including penicillin, vancomycin, and clindamycin. Cultures are taken to determine
appropriate antibiotic coverage, and antibiotics may be changed when culture results are
obtained.

As in other maladies characterized by massive wounds or tissue destruction, hyperbaric
oxygen treatment can be a valuable adjunctive therapy but is not widely available. Amputation
of the affected organ(s) may be necessary. Repeat explorations usually need to be done to
remove additional necrotic tissue. Typically, this leaves a large open wound, which often
requires skin grafting. The associated systemic inflammatory response is usually profound,
and most patients will require monitoring in an intensive care unit.

Treatment for necrotizing fasciitis may involve an interdisciplinary care team. For example, in
the case of a necrotizing fasciitis involving the head and neck, the team could include
otolaryngologists, intensivists, microbiologists and plastic surgeons.

Notable people afflicted

King Herod the Great of Judea may have suffered from Fournier gangrene
(necrotizing fasciitis of the groin and genitalia) at the time of his death, as suggested
in a "historical autopsy."
Lucien Bouchard, former premier of Qubec, Canada, who became infected in 1994
while leader of the federal official opposition Bloc Qubcois party, lost a leg to the
illness.
Melvin Franklin, bass singer for The Temptations. Though Franklin's condition was
diagnosed early enough to prevent complete amputation of his arm, he died from
other health complications soon afterward in 1995.
Jeff Moorad, former agent and partial owner of the San Diego Padres and Arizona
Diamondbacks, contracted the disease in 1997. He had seven surgeries in a little more
than a week but later recovered fully.
Eric Allin Cornell, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics, lost his left arm and
shoulder to the disease in 2004.
Jan Peter Balkenende, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands was infected in
2004. He was in the hospital for several weeks but recovered fully.
Alexandru Marin, an experimental particle physicist, professor at MIT, Boston
University and Harvard University, and researcher at CERN and JINR, died from the
disease in 2005.
David Walton, a leading economist in the UK and a member of the Bank of England's
Monetary Policy Committee, which is responsible for setting interest rates, died of the
disease within 24 hours of diagnosis on June 21, 2006.
Alan Coren, British writer and satirist, announced in his Christmas 2006 column for
The Times that his long absence as a columnist had been due to contracting the
disease while on holiday in France.
R. W. Johnson, South African journalist and historian, contracted the disease in
March 2009 after injuring his foot while swimming. His leg was amputated above the
knee.
Jeff Hanneman, guitarist for the thrash-metal band Slayer, contracted the disease in
early 2011. He was allegedly infected after being bitten by a spider.
Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction author, contracted the disease in early 2011.
On his blog, Watts reported, "Im told I was a few hours away from being dead.... If
there was ever a disease fit for a science fiction writer, flesh-eating disease has got to
be it. This fucker spread across my leg as fast as a Star Trek space disease in time-
lapse."

*Other

Albinism
Aquagenic Pruritus
Blaschko's lines
Dermatitis herpetiformis
Goltz syndrome
Harlequin Ichthyosis
Hidradenitis Suppurativa
Mastocytosis
Morgellons
Morgellon's disease
Porphyrias (The Vampire Disease)
Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa
Scleroderma
Sweets syndrome
Urticaria
Xeroderma-pigmentosum


*Rare Bone Diseases


Enchondromatosis
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP)
Fibrous dysplasia (FD)
Gorham's disease
Klippel-Feil Syndrome
Langer-Giedion Syndrome
Lymphangiomatosis
Melorheotosis
Multiple Osteochondromas (MO)
Osteitis Deformans
Osteochondritis
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI)
Osteolysis, Essential
Paget's disease
Primary hyperparathyroidism
Tietze's Syndrome

Rare Birth Defects


Conjoined Twins


Ethiopian Doctors operate on girl with eight limbs

http://scoophunters.com

Africa, Headlines, News By admin on July 9, 2012 10:11 am

Ethiopian doctors have successfully performed surgery on a girl born with eight limbs in the
countrys capital Addis Ababa.Werkitu Dababa, born with a parasitic twin (an incomplete
twin), had four arms and four legs. Two of the legs and two of the arms were undeveloped
and protruded from her pelvis.



The 17-year-old underwent an eight-hour surgery at the Cure Ethiopia Childrens Hospital to
remove the useless limbs along with extraneous internal organs. The teenager told a press
conference how happy she was that the surgery had gone well. She revealed that she was
forced to drop out of school because of constant mockery by schoolmates.

I thought that everybody was just like me when I was a kid. But I began to realise that I was
different from others when people made fun of my appearance in my third and fourth grade. I
could not take the mocking any more after my seventh grade and I dropped out of school.

I have been staying at home since then, she said. Dababa will be given psychological
counselling to help her deal with the mental damage that the deformity caused.

Parasitic twins occur when a twin embryo begins developing in utero, but the pair do not fully
separate and one embryo maintains dominant development at the expense of the other. This
deformity occurs in only one in half a million births.

Six-legged baby in Pakistan



Doctors in Pakistan are fighting to save the life of a baby boy born with six legs because of a
rare genetic condition, hospital officials said Monday. The infant was born to the wife of an X-
ray technician a week ago, Jamal Raza, the director of National Institute of the Child Health in
Karachi, told reporters. "It is not one baby actually. They are two, one of them is premature,"
he said. A doctor at the institute who did not wish to be named said the extra limbs were the
result of a genetic disease which would affect only one in a million or more babies. (AFP story)



This handout photograph released by the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) on April 16,
2012, shows a newly-born child with six legs as he lies in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward at
a hospital in Karachi. Doctors in Pakistan are fighting to save the life of a baby boy born with
six legs because of a rare genetic condition, hospital officials said. [AFP PHOTO/NATIONAL
INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH]

Sirenomelia

Sirenomelia, also called "mermaid syndrome", is a rare congenital disorder in which a child is
born with his or her legs fused together and reduced genitalia. This condition is about as rare
as conjoined twins, affecting one out of every 100,000 live births and is usually fatal within a
day or two of birth because of kidney and bladder complications. Four survivors were known to
be alive as of July 2003.



*Incurable Diseases


*AIDS
Wikipedia.org


*Foreign Accent Syndrome

*Commissurotomy

Split-brain patients

Laughing Sickness or Kuru
Wikipedia.org

Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder that is a type of transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy, caused by a prion found in humans. The term "kuru" derives from
the Fore word "kuria/guria" ("to shake"), a reference to the body tremors that are a classic
symptom of the disease; it is also known among the Fore as the laughing sickness due to
the pathologic bursts of laughter people would display when afflicted with the disease. It is
now widely accepted that Kuru was transmitted among members of the Fore tribe of Papua
New Guinea via cannibalism.

History

Kuru was first noted in the Fore tribe of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea
as Australian administrators explored the area in 19531959. Kuru (Keru) was reported by W.
T. Brown in Kainantu Patrol Report No 8 of 1953/54 (13 January 1954 - 20 February 1954.) ..
"The first sign of impending death is a general debility which is followed by general weakness
and inability to stand. The victim retires to her house. She is able to take a little nourishment
but suffers from violent shivering. The next stage is that the victim lies down in the house and
cannot take nourishment and death eventually ensues." The same reports described the
cannibalism practised by the Fore people. It was in the late 1950s that the full extent of the
disease was realized, after it had reached large infection rates in the South Fore of the Okapa
Subdistrict, though the agent was unknown.

Awande Hospital was built in 1961 in the Eastern Highlands to accommodate kuru patients and
research. Kuru was first noted in 1952-1953 by anthropologists R. M. and C. H. Berndt
amoung the Fore, Yate, and Usanufa people. Charles O. Pfarr, Lutheran Medical Services was
brought to the area by tribal persons and reported the disease to Australian authorities. Dr.
Vincent Zigas, District Medical Officer began observation. Blood specimens and brain tissue
were sent to Melbourne. In 1957, Dr. D. C. Gajdusek of the National Institute of Health joined
Dr. Zigas at the research center. Sister Eva Hasselbusch of Germany joined the hospital in
1959 to take care of the patients. Sister Maria Horn of Germany was the first trained sister to
work with the doctors to study the disease. By 1968 the hospital ceased to function as a Kuru
hospital and was closed. (1886-1986, The Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea by Herwig
Wagner and Hermann Reiner)

The disease was researched by Daniel Carleton Gajdusek as part of an international
collaboration with Australian doctor (now Professor) Michael Alpers. In the mid-1960s Alpers
collected post-mortem brain tissue samples from an 11-year-old Fore girl, Kigea, who had died
of kuru. He took these samples to Gajdusek in the USA, who then injected two chimpanzees
with the infected material. Within two years, one of the chimps, Daisy, had developed kuru,
demonstrating that the unknown disease factor was transmitted through infected biomaterial
and that it was capable of crossing the species barrier to other primates.

In 1976 Gajdusek, along with Baruch S. Blumberg, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for showing that kuru was transmissible to chimpanzees. This was the first time
that this group of encephalopathies had been demonstrated to be infectious and therefore a
major step forwards in their investigation. As kuru is the only epidemic of human prion disease
in known human history, it has provided important insights into the variant CJD.


Causes

Kuru is believed to be caused by prions and is related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). It is
best known for the epidemic that occurred in Papua New Guinea in the middle of the twentieth
century, and earlier. Although it is considered a transmissible prion disease, there is some
evidence that the origin of the outbreak was due to consumption of an individual (cannibalism)
with sporadic CJD, thus implying a common pathophysiology.

Presentation

Kuru causes physiological as well as neurological effects that ultimately lead to death. It was
endemic among the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea and was confined to the Fore population
and those nearby populations with whom they intermarried. It is characterized by truncal
ataxia, preceded by headaches, joint pains and shaking of the limbs. Trembling is present in
almost all patients with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, Kuru is also known as
"shiver."

The preclinical or asymptomatic phase, also called the incubation period, lasts between
possibly 5 to 20 years following initial exposure. The clinical stage lasts an average of 12
months.

The symptoms of Kuru are then broken down into three specific stages. The first, ambulant
stage, exhibits unsteady stance and gait, decreased muscle control, tremors, deterioration of
speech and dysarthria (slurred speech). In the second stage, sedentary stage, the patient is
incapable of walking without support, suffers ataxia (loss of muscle coordination) and severe
tremors. Furthermore, the victim is emotionally unstable, depressed, yet having uncontrolled
sporadic laughter. Interestingly, the tendon reflexes are still normal at this point. Finally, the
patient enters terminal stage, at which point he is incapable of sitting without support, suffers
severe ataxia (no muscle coordination), is unable to speak, is incontinent (unable to restrain
natural discharges/evacuations of urine or feces), has dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), is
unresponsive to his surroundings, and acquires ulcerations (sores with pus and necrosis). An
infected person usually dies within 3 months to 2 years after the first symptoms, often
because of pneumonia or pressure sores infection.

Transmission

Beginning in 1961, Australian doctor (now Professor) Michael Alpers conducted extensive field
studies among the Fore, which were supported by the work of anthropologist Shirley
Lindenbaum. Their historical research with the Fore suggests that the epidemic may have
originated around 1900 from a single individual who lived on the edge of Fore territory, who is
thought to have spontaneously developed some form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).
Alpers and Lindenbaum's research conclusively demonstrated that kuru spread easily and
rapidly in the Fore people due to their endocannibalistic funeral practices, in which relatives
consumed the bodies of the deceased to return the "life force" of the deceased to the hamlet,
a Fore societal subunit. The dysmorphism evident in the infection rates kuru was 89 times
more prevalent in women and children than in men at its peak is because while the men of
the village took the choice cuts, the women and children would eat the rest of the body
including the brain, where the prion particles were particularly concentrated. There is also the
strong possibility that it was passed on to women and children more easily because they took
on the task of cleaning relatives after death and may have had open sores and cuts on their
hands. Although ingestion itself of the prion particles can lead to the disease, there was a high
degree of transmission if the prion particles could reach the subcutaneous tissue. With
elimination of cannibalism because of Australian colonial law enforcement and the local
Christian missionaries' efforts, Alpers' research showed that Kuru was already declining among
the Fore by the mid-1960s, although cases continued to appear for several decades more, and
the last sufferer died in 2005. However, the mean incubation period of the disease is 14 years
and cases were reported with latencies of 40 years or more for those who were most
genetically resilient.

Immunity

Simon Mead of University College London, and others, showed in their genetic and clinical
assessment that people who survived the epidemic in Papua New Guinea were carriers of a
prion-resistant factor. Mead's group has shown the source of immunity to be the inheritance of
a genetic variant of prion protein G127V. This work remains breaking news as of November
22, 2009, and further implications of the discovery including evidence for rapid natural
selection of populations are being discussed.