Florida Plagued By Leprosy, Academic Brain Drain
Florida Plagued By Leprosy, Academic Brain Drain
Livin' in a hellhole ...
You know, you don’t hear much about leprosy these days (unless you are mounting a production of Jesus Christ Superstar) — but like so many other unpleasant things that many of us wrongly assumed were relics of a bygone age, leprosy is seemingly making a comeback in the southeastern part of the United States … Florida, in particular.
The Pensacola News-Journal reports that while CDC researchers have witnessed an uptick in what is now more politely referred to as Hansen’s Disease in several states — 159 cases in 2020 alone — 20 percent of those cases came from Central Florida alone and 34 percent of the new patients in that area were likely infected from exposure to other humans in Florida with the condition, rather than through the usual risk factors, such as traveling to areas of the world where it is more common or by palling around with armadillos. (Note to self, however — avoid armadillos)
The CDC report warns that Hansen’s Disease is close to becoming endemic in Florida and recommends that doctors keep it in mind when treating patients who have traveled there, should they show any symptoms.
Luckily, leprosy is not quite as infectious as people once thought it was, and most people are now pretty immune to it. Scientists currently believe that when it is passed from one person to another, it only happens when someone without immunity has prolonged contact with a person who has Hansen’s Disease and that “it may happen when a person with Hansen's Disease coughs or sneezes, and a healthy person breathes in the droplets containing the bacteria.” It’s also very curable, so long as one takes antibiotics prescribed by a doctor rather than horse Ivermectin, magic bleach or black salve.
Given this, it’s not totally shocking that the condition is making a comeback in Ron DeSantis’s Florida. After all, things did get to the point where all the anti-maskers started going around coughing on people for a hot minute. Plus it just logically follows that the kind of people are so inconsiderate of their fellow human beings that they would elect Ron DeSantis governor twice might be a little less likely to cover their faces while coughing or sneezing.
In other Florida news, the state’s academic brain drain problem is getting increasingly worse. The New College of Florida, the university that DeSantis was so determined to de-woke that he filled its board with culture warriors such as Christopher Rufo, currently has 36 of its 100 teaching positions to fill and pretty much no one interested in taking any of them.
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Hard figures for turnover rates will not be available until later this year, and none of the other 11 state-run universities are expected to match New College’s exceptionally high percentage of faculty vacancies.
A spokesperson for the office of State University System chancellor, Ray Rodrigues, issued a statement asserting that the “State University System of Florida has not received any concerns from our member institutions indicating turnover this year has been any higher than previous years. Turnover occurs every year.”
But Andrew Gothard, the state-level president of the United Faculty of Florida labor union, predicts a loss of between 20 and 30% of faculty members at some universities during the upcoming academic year in comparison with 2022-23, which would signify a marked increase in annual turnover rates that traditionally have stood at 10% or less.
Now, the fact that leprosy, much like defending the institution of slavery and the desire to pretend that LGBTQ+ people don’t exist, has made a comeback in the state probably (definitely) has nothing to do with why college professors are leaving Florida in droves and applications to schools in the state are way down, that is something that is happening as well, and both are things that seem to exemplify a state in decline.
Though, to be fair, “Move here and maybe get leprosy” is probably not a draw.
Studying plagues and weird diseases is a casual hobby of mine, so I feel like I can safely say Florida's collapsing infrastructure is likely a (one of many, but still the biggest) direct cause of this. As the article points out, robust people don't get leprosy. You develop the disease if you have a depressed immune system, either from an autoimmune disease, or because you were recently very sick and your white blood count is low. However, leprosy itself doesn't really "thrive" in a civilization unless it's . . . well . . . dirty.
So central Florida, where all the swamps are, yeah, I can see it existing there. You can't sanitize a swamp. Add to it increasing numbers of people with limited access to affordable healthcare, and sure, there's going to be an uptick of stuff you don't normally see elsewhere.
But keep in mind the population of the rest of the state. People who, through the natural course of aging, get sick more often. Are at higher risk of cancers. Need to take medications that require the immune system to be a little weaker. We're going to see this spread like wildfire through the retirees and snowbirds. Lots of them can afford the medications, but lots of them cannot.
So the question I have for DeSantis is: which religious camp do you fall into when it comes to leprosy? Do you believe it's a sign that the afflicted are sinners and deserve their bodies to rot and fall apart (if so fuck you), or do you believe that the afflicted are all the more holy for their suffering, and a lesson to the rest of us for the torment that awaits us for not conforming to your standards (also if so fuck you)?
Basically, I'm counting down to DeSantis finding just the right spin for withholding the antibiotics.
Also, fun fact: Thalidomide is a popular choice for chronic/recurrent cases. Just thought I'd toss that in there.
Yeah, bet those masks are looking pretty good NOW, huh?