Doctor Mike is reviewing an episode of the TV show "House, M.D." where the main character, Dr. House, diagnoses a patient with smallpox. However, the diagnosis is later revealed to be incorrect, and the patient actually has rickettsialpox, a rare disease caused by a mite bite. Doctor Mike critiques the episode's portrayal of medical procedures and diagnosis, pointing out inaccuracies and unrealistic scenarios. He also provides information about smallpox and rickettsialpox, and how they are transmitted and diagnosed.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. Smallpox was eradicated over 30 years ago.
2. Smallpox does not exist outside of P4 labs and bio-weapons plants.
3. There are only four locations in the world that have samples of smallpox still available for testing.
4. The smallpox virus is also known as variola.
5. Before the development of vaccinations, people used to do variolation to inoculate against smallpox.
6. Variolation involved introducing a piece of a pustule from someone with smallpox to a healthy person to get their immune system ready to fight the real smallpox.
7. The smallpox vaccine is made from the vaccinia virus.
8. The vaccinia virus has the same symptoms as smallpox but with half the calories and almost none of the lethality.
9. People with immunocompromised systems can develop full-blown symptoms from the vaccine.
10. Kidney cancer can cause immunosuppression.
11. Rickettsialpox is a mild, self-limited, zoonotic febrile illness characterized by eschar formation at the location of a mite bite.
12. Rickettsialpox occurs primarily in urban areas where the density of mites, mice, and humans is high.
13. Rickettsialpox was named in 1946 in New York City.
14. Between 2007 and the time of the recording, there were 14 reported cases of rickettsialpox.
15. Approximately 1.7 cases of rickettsialpox occur per million people.
16. Eschars are patches of dead tissue that can appear on the body, often as a result of an infection or a mite bite.
17. Doxycycline is an antibiotic that can be used to treat rickettsialpox.
18. Janet Parker was the last person to die of smallpox, in 1978.
19. Janet Parker was a lab worker who was exposed to smallpox virus that had escaped from a research lab below her workplace.
20. The person in charge of the lab where Janet Parker worked killed himself after her death.