Walking Wasteland: Difference between revisions

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== Real Life ==

* Then, of course, there's the real life Typhoid Mary, a private cook who spread typhoid to the families she worked for. She's well-known for her utter denial to believe she had the disease, to the point of being forcibly quarantined for the rest of her life so that she wouldn't infect anyone else.

* Then, of course, there's the real life [[Typhoid Mary]], a private cook who spread typhoid to the families she worked for. She's well-known for her utter denial to believe she had the disease, to the point of being forcibly quarantined for the rest of her life so that she wouldn't infect anyone else.

** It wasn't ''just'' denial. Although [[wikipedia:Mary Mallon|Mary Mallon]] was a carrier for the disease, she not only never displayed symptoms, but ''had actually tested clean'' for it at one point (due to being in temporary remission).

*** It's worth to remember that in these ~~time~~ the very ''idea'' that you can ''carry'' the disease and do not fall ill yourself was a fairly recent discovery, and even in the scientific community there were detractors. Not to mention an uneducated Irish cook.

*** It's worth to remember that in these times the very ''idea'' that you can ''carry'' the disease and do not fall ill yourself was a fairly recent discovery, and even in the scientific community there were detractors. Not to mention an uneducated Irish cook.

* [[I Love Nuclear Power|Being irradiated]], if media is to be believed.

** That depends primarily on the type of radiation the person has been exposed to. Photon radiation (like gamma for example) as well as Beta radiation (basically unattached electrons flying at high speed) can definitely give a man radiation sickness, but it doesn't actually turn one radioactive. Certain other particle radiation, like Neutron radiation or Alpha radiation (unattached Helium nuclei) on the other hand, are capable of turning other neutral objects radioactive. However, if a human was hit by enough Neutron or Alpha radiation to actually serve as a threat to anyone else by second hand radioactivity, the original human would be dead or at the very least incapacitated rather quickly by radiation sickness, and not actually capable of walking around after as little as a few hours at most.

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*** Brachytherapy, or internal radiotherapy, is ''lots'' worse.

* Lung diseases caused by working with asbestos can affect not only the unlucky employee, but anyone in his family who hugs him or handles his clothes.

* The mystery of Gloria Ramirez is still not conclusively solved, but the story of this California woman served as an inspiration for episodes of the ''[[The X-Files]]'' and ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]''. After being rushed to the Riverside General Hospital while dying of cancer, Ms. Ramirez mysteriously began to exude an oily substance from her pores and a strange, garlicky smell that caused nausea, fainting, muscle spasms and other documented symptoms in those attempting to treat her. Eventually the entire emergency room had to be evacuated, leaving behind only a skeleton crew who tended to her as she died.

* The [[wikipedia:Death of Gloria Ramirez|mystery of Gloria Ramirez]] is still not conclusively solved, but the story of this California woman served as an inspiration for episodes of the ''[[The X-Files]]'' and ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]''. After being rushed to the Riverside General Hospital while dying of cancer, Ms. Ramirez mysteriously began to exude an oily substance from her pores and a strange, garlicky smell that caused nausea, fainting, muscle spasms and other documented symptoms in those attempting to treat her. Eventually the entire emergency room had to be evacuated, leaving behind only a skeleton crew who tended to her as she died.