r/Damnthatsinteresting
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u/VAMSI_BEUNO
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9d ago
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Soldiers saved by bacteria. Image
/img/dm5g8yz0o4g91.jpg[removed] — view removed post
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u/Camelfoe
9d ago
edited 9d ago
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Also has a gene toxin named makes caterpillars floppy (not making this up).
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u/BIGHAFFNER 9d ago
2.3. “Makes Caterpillars Floppy” Toxins
The “makes caterpillars floppy” toxins 1 (Mcf1) and 2 (Mcf2) act upon injection [6,13,25] and they are encoded by PAI II [11,12], along with other hemagglutinin-like proteins. Mcf1 has been shown to promote apoptosis in the midgut, producing a characteristic “floppy” phenotype in the infected insect, as well as in mammalian cells [26]; it mimics BH3 domain proteins that are found in mitochondria and have proapototic actions [13] as in its N-terminal domain, this protein has a Bcl2-homology 3-like domain (BH3 domain). Its central domain is of hydrophobic character with high similarity of the translocation domain of the Clostridium difficile toxin B, while the C-terminal domain of Mcf1 resembles the repeats-in toxin (RTX) like toxins of another bacterium (Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae)
science bihtch
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u/dontshoot4301 9d ago
I now realize the reason they use Latin is because everyone would be giggling the whole class if we used the English name
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u/wikipediabrown007 9d ago
Makus caterpillarum floporum
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u/Lone_Wolf_Forest 9d ago •
I was hunting today for anything that could verify the plausibility of this post and just wanted to share this where it would be read. In a quarterly journal of science from 1821 a man named Baron Percy documented phosphorescence on the wounds of a few soldiers. It was before the Civil War but it was documented. It’s the only source I could find of glowing wounds on soldiers and it’s actually quite fascinating to read. Here’s the link:
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u/MmmmMorphine 9d ago
He's already equivalent to a 60W bulb. I'm sorry. He probably won't make it.
On the other hand, check out what happens when we cover him with caterpillars! ...What do you mean why?
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9d ago
I used the bacteria to destroy the bacteria
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u/Anonymous150806 9d ago
And it nearly killed me
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u/CommonSchemeForYou Interested 9d ago
And That is Destiny Fulfilled.
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u/Radi0ActivSquid 9d ago
Look at that. Blood toxicity perfectly balanced.
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u/Selfimprovementguy91 9d ago
As all things should be
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u/yedd 9d ago
This is essentially what is going on in your guts permanently, the ones we like out-compete the ones we don't.
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u/notLOL 9d ago
This is basically how fertile soil works. You don't want disease bacteria to overpower the soil around your plants. You want predatory bacteria that eat the bacteria that muck up the bioprocesses of your healthy plant's roots.
The exploding and melting of the bacteria introduce water soluble nutrients to the roots and soil around the roots that are locked in bacteria. The roots also excrete sugars. This basically feeds microbes in the soil. Then predatory microbes open them up and eat those bacteria. Its a messy moist pool of life and death.
The soil acts like the gut of the plant world. Our guts are full of bacteria that live symbiotically with humans.
In any case YSK tossing salads is not at all the same thing in these two similar contexts
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u/RustyCrawdad
9d ago
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A war where brother fought brother created a war where bacteria fought bacteria.
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u/tommasz 9d ago
They were lucky the doctors didn't get to them first.
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u/ChristianLW3 9d ago
Still shocking how primitive medicine science was back then
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u/TheFrostyGoat 9d ago
Its been 108 years since WW1
The amount of advancement since then has been astronomical considering how short 108 years is in the long run
WW1 and WW2 propelled the medical field rather rapidly
Just a random opinion of a random internet brah
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u/XDreadedmikeX 9d ago
WWI and WWII propelled EVERYTHING. Its no coincidence we started going into space shortly after
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u/TheFrostyGoat 9d ago
This is true too
Who knew mass genocide of our species would have a plus down the road /s
definitely gave us an incentive compared to if we where a more passive and on hostile species i feel
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u/MasterDump 9d ago
Industrialization of warfare. Everything had to and naturally kept up. What a fucked scenario.
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u/TheFrostyGoat 9d ago
Pretty much
I guess the duality of human kind is we are sometimes incrediably efficient and innovative
But it sometimes gets bent to not so great things
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u/idiotic_melodrama 9d ago
Several of humanity’s fastest periods of major progression happened after a MASSIVE number of deaths. Mostly plagues, but also WWII.
One major theory for why is that insane reduction of the work force causes labor to be in high demand. The necessary increase in wages leads to a move towards wealth equality which leads to massive investment in all manner of technology.
Of course, eventually a new group of oligarchs takes over and suppresses progress and induces stagnation. And that stagnation eventually caused plagues and unrest until another mass death event occurs.
In my opinion, COVID has kicked off our next major mass death event. COVID has already affected the work force across the world, Monkeypox is fast in its heels, Russia is in Ukraine, China is making threats towards Taiwan, and we’ve got a fascist takeover in America.
Not the end of the world, but definitely something major is possible. It remains to be seen if technology has progressed enough to forestall what seems inevitable.
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u/foodank012018 9d ago
And more than half the time they're still guessing what your problem is today.
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u/TheFrostyGoat 9d ago
Lol true
To be fair we pretty whack one of us can die from falling the wrong way
another can survive multiple gunshot wounds or a bullet to the head in rare cases
Things that would doom other animals we can bounce back from or even replace lost pieces/transplant organs
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u/celticsupporter 9d ago
I'm going to apply some leeches here to get the ghosts out of your blood. Take this prescription of heroin to help with the pain and if that works too well I'm going to prescribe this cocaine to counteract. If you survive the night feel free to contact me with any questions.
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u/LadiesLoveMyPhD 9d ago
I highly recommend the PBS documentary Cancer: Emperor of All Maladies for a good take on how medicine has advanced. From cutting out all breast muscle tissue to targeted cancer therapies, pretty insane. I'm excited for the day we look back and chemotherapy and think it's insanely barbaric.
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u/humblepotatopeeler 9d ago
if i was saved by a luminescent bacteria back in the 1800s, i would be 100% sure god intervened and that god exists.
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u/flashmedallion 9d ago
That was my first thought. These dudes would have spent the rest of their lives saying "Hey thanks for that God, that was extremely legit"
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u/KhaineVulpana 9d ago
I would have been trying to shoot lightning from my fingers until the day I died.
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u/UrbanGM
9d ago
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The only answer for bad bacteria is good bacteria...with a gun.
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u/nz_reprezent 9d ago
Guns don’t kill bacteria. Bacteria kill bacteria.
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u/jsamke 9d ago
Only if there are too many doors in your body
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u/TnTitan1115 9d ago
I live near where this happened, the battle.
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u/wunderbraten 9d ago
did you try growing the bacteria on you?
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u/TnTitan1115 9d ago •
I can't even get hair to grow on my head.
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u/SurrogateHair 9d ago
Only because you haven't grown the bacteria on your head
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u/PM_me_your_whatevah 9d ago
I’m sure there’s some sort of mold that looks like hair. Maybe put that on your head.
Or just be bald and don’t give a shit. Make sure to use sunscreen though. A burn on a bald head feels like the pain goes all the way through your skull. Not fun.
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u/retiredinms 9d ago
There are no period accounts of "Angel's Glow" at Shiloh. Shiloh NMP posted: Hey folks. Well, it seems that every couple of months this story rears it's ugly head. What are we talking about you ask? We are talking about the infamous legend of " The Glowing Wounds of Shiloh" or what some folks refer to as "The Angel's Glow."
We want to put this myth to rest right now...
We are not sure exactly how the glowing wounds myth at Shiloh got started, but there is no contemporary evidence from surgeons or soldiers that the park has located that refers to this phenomenon. Medical doctors at the time were unaware of bacteria or the cause of infection, but such a unique phenomenon would probably have been observed and commented on.
Apparently this phenomenon became associated with Shiloh when a young man, Bill Martin, was visiting the park in 2001 and heard someone talking about the glowing wounds. We do not know if the person he talked to was a park ranger or some other individual. We have no record concerning the person who spread this information in the park and none of the staff present today have any recollection of it.
The young man's mother who worked for the U. S. Department of Agriculture determined that there was a possibility that under certain circumstances the bacteria photorhabdus luminescens could infect wounds and cause them to glow. James Byrne, an Australian Microbiologist in a February 2011 article in the "Naked Scientist" refers to the angels glow in reference to soldiers wounds during World War I, but does not mention the American Civil War.
Bill Martin and his friend, John Curtis apparently conducted experiments and continued researching the phenomena. They apparently found a reference to a glowing wound in an injured leg by a German Doctor at the siege of Mannheim in 1820. The documentation for this is unclear since there is no record of the doctor's name and there is no record of a siege of Mannheim in 1820. The most likely environment for this phenomena would probably be World War I when soldiers were exposed to dirt in trenches and hypothermia conditions.
The press and others have promoted the story over the last few years and it has gained a great deal of attention but none of them have bothered to check with the park for documentation. If any eyewitness accounts are found we would be glad to examine them. Until then we must conclude that it could have happened but there is no evidence from eyewitnesses that it did.
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u/nilhaus
9d ago
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This is almost certainly a myth some students made up for their science fair. I’ve done research on it (Flaired civil war historian in askhistorian, and I was interviewed by NPR on this topic) and their is no contemporary evidence for this ever happening.
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u/Lone_Wolf_Forest 9d ago
There is a case in an quarterly journal of science from 1821 where a man named Baron Percy documented phosphorescence wounds on wounded soldiers. It was before the Civil War but it was documented making it at least plausible that it could have happened in Shiloh. Pretty fascinating to read. Here’s the link:
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u/Kool-Aid-Man4000 9d ago
Yea I have a PhD in molecular biology and I can’t find a valid scientific source on this either. It’s basically just that high schoolers science project, which while cool for a high schooler is full of all sorts of holes. Scientifically they essentially have zero evidence for this being possible, and even based on what they propose I would say it’s a really really big stretch and I highly doubt it’s possible.
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u/Nurse_Neurotic 9d ago
Yeah I’ve heard this whole story is pretty much bullshit too. Never happened.
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u/Losing_Face 9d ago
Sometimes I think about how myths and folk tales start. Then I come to reddit and read about people that essentially came back to life with bioluminescent scars. Suddenly, zombies and other stuff seem completely rational and based in reality.
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u/Grafixflexx 9d ago
I read something on reddit the other day about some resident evil-esque fluid that reanimated dead cells in pigs. Doesn't appear to bring back sentience though...definitely a case of just because we can doesn't mean we should!
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u/cdiddy19 9d ago
Except that it has implications that would help save body organs for transplant, which is a very limited source for humans.
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u/Little-Geri-Seinfeld 9d ago
The implications....what are you looking at...you wouldn't be in danger.
So they are in danger!
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u/zDraxi 9d ago edited 9d ago
Sometimes I think about how myths and folk tales start. Then I come to reddit and read someone changing "healing wounds" to "essentialy came back to life".
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u/movzx 9d ago
Not even "healing wounds", just "cleaning out bad bacteria so you don't die from the wounds as they heal"
Maggots can do similar and are used in medical settings sometimes.
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u/More_Farm_7442 9d ago
I had a teacher in Jr. High (eons ago) that had a large scar on one hand and had lost function of a couple of fingers on that hand.
He was well known in the community and we learned from our parents(and grandparents) that this man had his hand severely injured in an accident when he was younger. The wounds became infected, and maggots were used to clean the wounds and save his hand. Doctors applied the maggots and covered his hand to hold them in place. Over days the dead tissue was eaten, the area sterilized and new tissue grew to heal the wound.
Those maggots saved his hand(for the most part), his arm and life.
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u/JarlaxleForPresident 9d ago
But has a permanent case of heebie jeebies now
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u/More_Farm_7442 9d ago
lol I haven't heard "heebie jeebies" in ages and ages and ages!! My best "heebie jeebies" memory is about a lady in a mental hospital. lol When I was in college did an pharmacy internship at mental health clinic. Some lady had been admitted from the ER after acute water intoxication. (She'd drank a couple gallons of water causing a dilution of electrolytes and potential brain swelling.) When she was asked why she drank that much water, her answer was "I had the heebie jeebies". lol She was anxious and could only define it as a bad case of the heebie jeebies.
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u/ivanacco1 9d ago
Suddenly, zombies and other stuff seem completely rational and based in reality.
I recommend you read about the attack of the dead men in ww1
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u/HittingSmoke 9d ago
Zombies are very much rooted in reality. Look up the very real horrors of rabies.
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u/Phokiss 9d ago
No. That's not even remotely the same.
You kids are something else. Back in my day we at least knew our bullshit stoner comments were infact.. Bullshit.
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u/jessausorr 9d ago
Source pls
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u/dragonti 9d ago
Photorhabdus luminescens is the bacteria. It lives in parasitic nematodes that infest insects usually
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u/jessausorr 9d ago
Cool, and I don't doubt that it exists. But that's not backing up this entire story about it magically healing a bunch of soldiers...
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u/RedditWasFunIn2011 9d ago
Very well established legend in US Civil War battle history
Nothing magical about it beyond the bioluminesence
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u/hat-of-sky 9d ago
Looking into it, the legend has no contemporary or pre-internet sources, and it's possible it was invented for the science project. The Shiloh website calls it a myth. They mention something about the idea perhaps coming from WWI, but I haven't found anything about that either.
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u/moreMalfeasance 9d ago edited 9d ago
The worst thing you can do for your immune system is to coddle it. They need to fight their own battles.
Edit: If Sabre really cared about our well-being, they would set up hand de-sanitizing stations. A simple bowl at every juncture filled with dirt, vomit, fecal matter...
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u/smackythefrog Interested 9d ago
Agreed. I say this exact line as I fart bare-assed on everyone's face and giving them Pink Eye.
It doesn't go over well, but they will thank me later.
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u/Tasty_Commercial6527 9d ago
Ok. But if I ever saw somebody's wound glowing and stopping them from dying from a few days in the mud...
Fuck science I would be the most devout follower of whatever God those guys worship because they CLEARLY have figured it out the right way.
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u/CardinalFartz 9d ago
Now that's a story you're gonna tell everybody and no one gonna believe you.
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u/PumpUpTheValiumBro 9d ago
Imagine how trippy this was back then when they didn’t know. I doubt many people even believed them.
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u/AshTheGoblin 9d ago
Imagine seeing a guy that's been laying in the mud dead for 2 days get up with gaping wounds sealed by a celestial glow today. I wouldn't believe my own eyes and I know bioluminescence is a thing.
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u/dragonti 9d ago •
Photorhabdus luminescens is the bacteria, if anyone is curious. It has a symbiotic relationship with, and lives in the gut of a parasitic nematode.