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So I get an urgent email at work warning me that California has declared an epidemic of Pertussis. Que?
Turns out this is the clinical name for Whooping Cough. Now, I can understand renaming some diseases due to their scientific name being unpronounceable without training, but Pertussis is kinda cool. Sort of, I don't know, like a Roman landowner or something you'd name the 3rd moon your space station is built on in a B-movie. And "Whooping Cough" sounds, well, gross in comparison: I don't need to be coughed on, let alone Whooped on.
On a small public service note: those of you with kiddies in CA, don't think that this is a signal to not leave your homes until further notice: epidemics in the *legal* sense of the word is very clearly defined when levels of infection are still very low just so that the State authorities have the mandate they need to stop the infections from getting worse. Yes, epidemics technically include the Black Death of 1347 - 1351 and the Flu epidemic of 1918, but those are not what we're talking about. Right now the most impacted counties, Marin and San Luis Obispo have seen 47 and 33 cases per 100,000 respectively. There is a very effective and simple vaccination for Pertussis given to kids 2 - 6; talk to your pediatrician if you have any questions.
Pertussis. I would totally name a pug that....
Turns out this is the clinical name for Whooping Cough. Now, I can understand renaming some diseases due to their scientific name being unpronounceable without training, but Pertussis is kinda cool. Sort of, I don't know, like a Roman landowner or something you'd name the 3rd moon your space station is built on in a B-movie. And "Whooping Cough" sounds, well, gross in comparison: I don't need to be coughed on, let alone Whooped on.
On a small public service note: those of you with kiddies in CA, don't think that this is a signal to not leave your homes until further notice: epidemics in the *legal* sense of the word is very clearly defined when levels of infection are still very low just so that the State authorities have the mandate they need to stop the infections from getting worse. Yes, epidemics technically include the Black Death of 1347 - 1351 and the Flu epidemic of 1918, but those are not what we're talking about. Right now the most impacted counties, Marin and San Luis Obispo have seen 47 and 33 cases per 100,000 respectively. There is a very effective and simple vaccination for Pertussis given to kids 2 - 6; talk to your pediatrician if you have any questions.
Pertussis. I would totally name a pug that....
