"bogus address" > wrote in message
...
>
> >> [possum is] not near as good as Hoover Hog (armadillo) which comes
> >> in its own baking dish, but carries the Hansen's virus, enough to
> >> make you throw in your hand while playing bridge - no, not the cards,
> >> the hand, Hansen's being Leprosy (curable by today's antibiotics from
> >> the Streptomycin line, IIRC).
> > If Hansen's is a virus, how can it be effectively treated with
> > antibiotics?
>
> It isn't a virus, it's a bacterium closely related to the one that
> causes TB.

I know. I was just calling him on his error.

> It's very difficult to catch; usually takes years of contact with
> an infected person before you get it. (Unlike TB from infected milk,
> which is a serious hazard).
>
> Both TB and leprosy need treatment by multiple antibiotics for some
> time - the TB protocol was developed in Edinburgh in the 1950s,
> but it took twenty years for an analogous regimen to be adopted for
> leprosy.


Q. What did the leper say to the prostitute?


A. "Keep the tip."



Sorry, I couldn't resist . . .