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Osama bites it?

It's Saturday morning, so it must be time for the "Osama is dead" rumor of the week.

This week its "Died of Typhoid" in Pakistan. We in the first world dont see much Typhoid, so heres a quick run down on what Typhoid is.

"Typhoid fever (or enteric fever) is an illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. Common worldwide, it is transmitted by ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces from an infected person. The bacteria then multiply in the blood stream of the infected person and are absorbed into the digestive tract and eliminated with the waste".

Food contaminated with feces? that can't be considered "halal", can it?

After infection, symptoms include:
- a high fever from (103 °F to 104 °F) that rises slowly
- chills
- bradycardia (slow heart rate)
- weakness
- diarrhea
- headaches
- myalgia (muscle pain)
- lack of appetite
- constipation
- stomach pains
- in some cases, loss of hair resulting from the prolonged high fever
extreme symptoms such as intestinal perforation or hemorrhage, delusions and confusion are also possible.

When untreated, typhoid fever persists for three weeks to a month. Death occurs in between 10% and 30% of untreated cases.

I find it interesting the Osama bin Laden might have fallen victim to the same sort of death that the Martians fell victim to in the "War of the Worlds". Not bombs or bullets, but a simple bacterium. And it may have even been carrired to his cave by one of his compatriots, Ala "Typhoid Mary", or in this case, maybe "Typhoid Ali".

My take? Osama isnt making tapes, he's not standing on balconies of cities surrounded by throngs of admirers, hes either dead or in deep hiding. If hes alive, hes in Iran or Waziristan and I think if I were stuck in either of those places, I would prefer death but thats just me... Waking up on Saturday to rumors of his death is not a bad thing, even if its not necessarily true.

Posted @ September 23, 2006 09:49 AM | Current Affairs

Posted by: Dennis at September 23, 2006 09:19 PM