Man and Mystery Vol1 - Rare Diseases and Unusual Deaths [Rev06]

 A collection of intriguing intriguing topics and and fascinating stories stories about the rare, the paranormal, and the strange

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 won’t 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. 1879−1903), 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. 1003 –1010), 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-François Pilâtre de Rozier  was the first known fatality in an air crash when his Rozière balloon crashed on 15 June 1785 while he and Pierre Romain were attempting to cross the English Channel. Otto Lilienthal (1848–1896) died the day after crashing one of his hang gliders. Franz Reichelt (1879–1912), 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  (1882–1913) 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 (1813–1867) 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.  (1889–1944) 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 chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Physics 



Marie Curie (1867–1934) 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.   (1921–1945) and Louis Slotin (1910–1946), who both were exposed to lethal doses of radiation in separate criticality accidents involving the same sphere of plutonium.

Rocketry 

Max Valier (1895–1930) invented liquid-fuelled rocket engines as a member of the

1920s German rocketeering society Verein für 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 i ntroduced 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  (1895–1921) 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 Moscow to the Tula collieries to test it, with Abakovsky 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, 1932 –July 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  (1738–1814) 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 (1948–2010), 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 world’s 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, u nusual, 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 says Greek Greek wrestler wrestler Milo of Croton 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, Máel Brigte, to his horse's saddle. The teeth of the head grazed against his leg as he rode, causing a fatal infection.

1063 1219

Béla I of Hungary died when his throne's canopy collapsed upon him. 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 1478

Martin of Aragon died from a lethal combination of indigestion and

uncontrollable laughing.

George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, was executed by drowning in a

barrel of Malmsey wine at his own request.

Renaissance 1514

György Dózsa, Székely 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 Dózsa 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

François 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

Molière, 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 hetvägg 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

1879

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. 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 t he 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 Kobbé, 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, col lapsed, 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 socalled 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 t he 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. ai r.

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, bu t 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 thirddegree burns from a flash fire in the pure oxygen environment of a training simulator.

1963

Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, sa t 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 reentry.

1970s 1972 1974 1974

Leslie Harvey, guitarist of Stone the Crows, was electrocuted on stage by a

live microphone.

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

1975

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. Bandō Mitsugorō VIII, a Japanese kabuki actor, died of severe poisoning

puffer-fish)) livers. Mitsugorō claimed to be immune when he ate four fugu ( puffer-fish 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 t he 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, 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 Gödel, the Austrian/American logician and mathematician, died of starvation  when his wife was hospitalized. Gödel 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 1981

David Allen Kirwan a 24-year-old, died from third-degree burns after attempting to rescue a friend's dog from the 200°F (93°C) water in Celestine Pool, a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park on July 20, 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, mall et, 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 semisubmersible, when a decompression decompression chamber explosively decompressed 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 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

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. 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 the n 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 25pound 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 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 Thei r bodies were never recovered.

1998 October

An entire visiting association association football football team playing playing against 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 t o 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-Jürgen 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, 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 2009

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

coyotes.

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 ( 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. li mb.

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: Ἡρῴδης, Hērōidēs), 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 Schürer 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 37year 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 hi s 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 CheyneStokes 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 Ramirez‘s 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 lightheaded, she left the trauma room and sat at a nurse‘s 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 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 i s 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 i ndependent 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 o f 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/~hdc http:/home.earthlink.net/~hdcr/Fuming.htm. r/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 t he 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 ἐρσζίπελας—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, Erysipelas of the face due to invasive headaches, vomiting, and general illness Streptococcus. 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

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 infection —Erysipelas can recur in 18 –30% of cases even after antibiotic treatment. Lymphatic damage Necrotizing fasciitis—commonly 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, 1854–1901 Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster & author, 1747 –1825 Rev. Robert Lusk, Reformed Presbyterian minister, 1781-1845, noted for his controversial ecclesiastical career. Father Solanus Casey, Capuchin monk and 20th Century spiritual figure, 1870 –1957, 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, 1851 –1913 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 1858 –1859 Mary Lyon, Educator and Founder of Mt Holyoke Female Seminary.1797 Seminary.1797 –1849. John Dryden, English poet (1631 –1700) Hannah Perkins Battersby, "fat lady" of the Barnum Circus (1841 –1889) Thomas Diaper, (1829 –1887) Ipswich Poor Union House.



Édouard Lucas, (1842 –1891) 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. 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'



aboulomania, indecisiveness : [aboulo-] (Greek) meaning 'irresolution' or

or 'cleaning' (see ablutophobia, opposite)

'indecision' 

acronymania, acronyms : [acro-] (Greek) meaning 'highest', 'top', 'tip end' or



agromania, being in open spaces : [agro-] (Greek) meaning 'land', 'soil', 'field',

'outermost' | [-onym, -nym] (Greek) meaning 'name' or 'word'

   















'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 ( 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) :



bruxomania, grinding of the teeth : [bruxo-] (Greek) meaning 'grinding or



[bracte-] (Latin) meaning thin 'plate'



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] [ 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-] [ 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 l ong words) [see hippopotomonstrosesquipped hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliomania aliomania (opposite)] hydromania, water : [hydro-] [ 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, phaneromania, biting one‘s 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



rhinotillexomania, nose picking : rhino- (Greek) meaning "nose"; tillexis-



R



(Greek) meaning "to pluck, tear, pull or pick at" rinkomania, skating



satyromania, sexual desire (in males only) : satyrisis (Late Latin); saturisis

S

      

(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 one‘s works

U 

uranomania, divinity



verbomania, words



xenomania, foreign things



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

V

X

Z

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, 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



Dysmorphophobia, or body dysmorphic disorder – a phobic obsession with a real or

  

as "compulsive hoarding"

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 *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 one‘s photograph taken.



Lipophobia – fear/avoidance of fats in food



Mysophobia – fear of germs, contamination or dirt



L

M

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 bi rds 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) L uddite) 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



Uranophobia, Ouranophobia – fear of Heaven



Workplace phobia – fear of the workplace



          

U

W

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 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



Superhydrophobe – the property given to materials that are extremely difficult to



Thermophobia – aversion to heat.

     

tendency to stay out of the light

get wet.

Prejudices and discrimination The suffix -phobia is used to coin terms that denote a particular anti-ethnic or antidemographic 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 t ransgendered 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 tell ing 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, you’d you’d probably wish that you’ll  never  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 Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome (LMBBS) Marfan syndrome Mucopolysaccharidosis 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 Jordan‘s 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/se http://www.proteus-sy ndrome.org.uk/sections.php?name=Jo ctions.php?name=Jordan rdan

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 t here is no cure for this t his 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 lea rn 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-1phosphate 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 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 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 atransferrinae at ransferrinaemia mia Cri du chat syndrome Cystic fibrosis Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) GRACILE syndrome Hemophilia Mermaid Syndrome Microcephaly Phenylalanine hydroxylase 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 methicillinresistant 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 antiinflammatory 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) 25 - 2 points Hemoglobin (g/dL) >13.5 - 0 points 11-13.5 - 1 point 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, 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 Québec, Canada, who became infected in 1994 while leader of the federal official opposition Bloc Québécois 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 l ater 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 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, "I‘m 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 timelapse."

*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 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 country‘s 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 Children‘s 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 everyb ody was just like me when I was a kid. But I b egan 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 occurs in only one in half a million mill ion 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 Xray 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 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, 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 1953 –1959. 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 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 ca used 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. 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. in fection. 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 8 –9 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 shown the source of immunity to be the th e 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.