Re: Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?

On 4/13/25 10:49 PM, Physfitfreak wrote:

On 4/13/25 10:04 PM, Bertitaylor wrote:

On Mon, 14 Apr 2025 2:40:25 +0000, Physfitfreak wrote:
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Better yet contract kala-azar and

just die :) I want my space in my fridge.

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My great uncle found the cure for that disease, saved many millions of
lives.
A great inspiration for me, Roachie.
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  Pure bullshit. The name of the discoverers of the parasite is still part of its scientific name (Leishmania donovani). I read a book in the 1990s about the discovery also; a detailed account of the unbelievable struggle that led to its discovery, and yes, millions were saved after that.
 One was British, the other Irish. Years apart.
   

The hardest part, according to that book, was to find the life cycle of the parasite. The mechanism of transmission. It was like starting from having absolutely no clue, and by funky tries, trying to zero in on it. It took a long long time and many many mistakes and misconceptions and misinterpretation of data to at last land on what was the real culprit. That little fly, a form of sand fly. The parasite would clog up its needle-like mouth, and then when eating someone else's blood would transmit some of the parasites into the new patient. And this repeated on all other humans that the fly fed on. They generally all died not that long after. Hundreds of thousands of them at a time.
Perhaps your "great uncle" cleaned the floor of the center that one of these researchers was working it, who knows :)