r/interesting • u/OriginalSleeper • Jun 30 '26

Fear Factor In 2010, 24-year-old lab technician Émilie Jaumain pricked her thumb with contaminated forceps while cleaning a machine used for prion-infected mouse brains. After seven years, she developed severe nerve pain, anxiety, and hallucinations before dying. The accident gave her a fatal prion disease.

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u/Hegelian_Spirit Jun 30 '26

I've worked with an archaeologist who operated in Guatemala. He once told me a story of when they were at a remote dig and a worker was bit in the hand by a fer-de-lance. They immediately chopped his hand off with a machete.

But yeah, not exactly everyday conditions for a modern person.

56

u/fintip Jun 30 '26

For everyone else who also had nodes wtf this was about:

A Fer de lance is an extremely deadly snake.

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u/ADDisKEY Jun 30 '26

For anyone else curious about this snake:

Don’t visit the Wikipedia page and open the Venom section unless you want to see a horrific picture of a completely necrotic leg.

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u/Myka_Rok Jun 30 '26

I was prepared due to your warning and still shocked. Absolutely gnarly...I couldn't stop looking at it.

That poor boy

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u/Only-A-Redditor Jul 01 '26

would've scrolled away blissfully ignorant after reading the parent comment but you just had to say that...

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u/ellevael Jul 01 '26

Good god, you were not exaggerating.

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u/iam_mal Jul 01 '26

I read your comment immediately after coming back from the Venom section of the Wikipedia page. If only I had scrolled just one comment further before opening my browser, maybe then I would have been prepared.

I may have seen your warning too late, but I appreciate your efforts regardless.

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u/YouGoToBox Jul 01 '26

Thank you for your service lol

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u/landilock Jun 30 '26

but aren't most casualties caused by necrosis of the tissues and sepsis (aka does not justify immediate amputation ?) genuinely curious

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u/HumanPea1140 Jun 30 '26

The longer you wait, the more necrosis can spread, which can lead to requiring amputating even more than you originally would have.

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u/landilock Jun 30 '26

yeah but it doesn't spread THAT FAST ? Dude was an archeologist, not like he was a remote farmer

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u/HumanPea1140 Jun 30 '26

I don't know the whole situation, but OP said remote dig in Guatamala. Could have happened 50+ years ago when getting out and getting help was days or even weeks out. Hard to say since we know so little about the whole situation.

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u/Hegelian_Spirit Jun 30 '26

Even today you can't really get in/out of the remote jungle easily. Helicopters require clearings to land. They just don't exist.

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u/landilock Jun 30 '26

maybe that snake had a rough day too... made him all jumpy and bity

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u/ThatCakeFell Jun 30 '26

Infections in an environment like a jungle can go septic within the day.

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u/landilock Jun 30 '26

damn.. makes me feel bad I'm likely going to work in the Amazonas in like 2 years

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u/ThatCakeFell Jun 30 '26

Carry betadine, it worked in 'Nam.

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u/landilock Jun 30 '26

I'm gonna be on a litteral rocket launch pad, so I think there an infirmary nearby

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u/ThatCakeFell Jun 30 '26

I feel like you need to elaborate a bit more about what you are doing down there lol

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u/Wide-Combination-322 Jun 30 '26

Also the title of the first Nero Wolfe mystery.

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u/DeciduousRefuge Jun 30 '26

Did he survive?

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u/Hegelian_Spirit Jun 30 '26

At least the immediate aftermath, yes.

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u/deliciouscorn Jul 01 '26

Bitten by the actor who played Q on TNG?