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Zoonotic Infectious Diseases

Commenters speculate on infectious causes for a mysterious illness, frequently referencing zoonotic diseases like rabies, Lyme, Ebola, Capnocytophaga from dog bites, and rare cases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease from eating squirrel brains.

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Top Contributors

Fomite (26) pvaldes (25) jacquesm (17) HarryHirsch (16) DoreenMichele (14)

Keywords

US AFM cartercenter.org livescience.com TIL HN INFECTIOUS en.m MRSA qz.com disease illness diseases symptoms shots dog infectious infections bacteria infection

Sample Comments

at_a_remove • Mar 27, 2020 • View on HN

Lyme disease, Ebola, et al would like to have a word.

nradov • Jul 26, 2020 • View on HN

Have they looked into transmission from animals?

BenjiWiebe • Jan 24, 2021 • View on HN

Assuming it's an infectious illness.

archerx • Jan 31, 2024 • View on HN

Seems like a great way to get rabies.

ssn • Apr 17, 2011 • View on HN

Wonder if diseases are also affected.

pmdulaney • Aug 5, 2025 • View on HN

Spoiler: a bacteria is causing it.

jdmichal • May 17, 2016 • View on HN

Deaths? Not necessarily likely. Infections? Very much so.

DerekL • Oct 23, 2018 • View on HN

I was wondering if it was about this story:“Man Dies from Extremely Rare Disease After Eating Squirrel Brains”https://www.livescience.com/63831-squirrel-brains-rare-disor...https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18268219

agumonkey • Oct 8, 2021 • View on HN

TIL about Capnocytophaga canimorsus

tdeck • Feb 15, 2021 • View on HN

Anyone know if this has killed someone yet?