Monday, May 5, 2008

The Dean Gave Me Syphilis

One of our deans is an infectious disease doctor, and she has recently given us some lectures on various bacteria.  The other day, she showed a clip of an old movie about syphilis and asked if anyone in class knew who played the lead actor.  Nobody did; it was Edward G. Robinson.
She then asked if anyone knew the name of Robinson's character, a doctor. 
 I drudged through my memories of microbiology from BYU and remembered that Dr. Paul Ehrlich discovered the first antibiotic, an arsenic-containing compound called salvarsan.  Trivia such as this sticks in my brain sometimes.

Anyway, as a reward for knowing this useless bit of minutia, the dean gave me syphilis.  Don't believe me?  Here's a picture!

Yes, this is Treponema pallidum from the GIANT Microbes stuffed animal collection.  They make perfect gifts.  Mother's Day is coming up, and what mother wouldn't love a little Flesh-Eating Bacterium on her special day?  And why stop there?  What better way to get that pesky ex to stop calling you than with a raging case of The Clap?  Oooohhh -- burn!!

The morale of the story?  Stay in school.  It might earn you a dose of the pox.


3 comments:

Jessica said...

I saw these somewhere before,and I thought,Gross! Thanks for another gross thought :) Oh and congratulations on your reward.

Malerie said...

This is how rumors get started. I think it's OK for Madeline to play with the Red Blood Cell, but I'm not sure about the Syphilis one...

Jen and Ty said...

matt! through handy blog stalking techniques, I found your blog and loved reading about your life! I hope life is good and that med school is treating you well. We just went private on our blog, but if you ever want to take a look, you can email me your email at jennathehenna@gmail.com.

I hope it is ok that I will now be checking up on you and your family regularly!
Jen (moore) Martin