A rod for my own back
There’s a pun in the title there, especially for those of you that prefer single-celled critters to humans.
And before you start, I know, mucus shouldn’t have a colour… not if you’re healthy anyway, but generally, you only see it when you’re ill.
It’s officially bug season in the UK. I could talk about the epidemiology of it in detail, but the brief overview is that students, from all over the world have moved back into close confined spaces provided by the universities. This influx of people also brings an influx of microbes – the cramped conditions of university dorms mean that they spread like wildfire.
It’s a good way to separate the wheat from the chaff.
There is one thing bothering me though. The bit about the blue and yellow bacteria is true, but how come I have never seen anyone with blue snot? Does anyone know or has anyone seen an example of this that doesn’t include someone putting a Biro up their nose first?
i’d think that large amounts of mostly blue bacteria on one place would be really hard to find in nature, especially the human body, being besieged by so many kinds at once all the time as it is
I get snot in a wide variety of colours.
Blue, black, white, yellow, red, green, etc.
Tho mostly this is due to working with dusts of the same colour.
And the red and yellow is due to the staph infection I got from inhaling irritant dusts at work
I don’t get the pun, am I stupid? jj
All the colours of the rainbow eh, Ben?
You’re not stupid – it’s a bit ‘specialist’ as fra as puns go… and not particularly clever or good either.
It’s to do with how microbiologists describe the shape of staph-type bacteria… as rods.
haha, yeah on a bad day it is.
Kinda gross.
Well then I don’t feel so stupid.
Dorm rooms, offices, busses, stores… people congregate everywhere. I love going to the movies.
i was thinking more like rods in terms of vision, and colours.
you know, rods and cones?
i think i am also stupid.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a rod-shaped bacteria that sometimes secretes a pigment called pyocyanin which causes *blue snot* in about 1 in 10,000 people.
Seraphine, and Adam, I think I’ve had that one. Either way, I’ve definitely had pretty vibrantly blue snot a couple times in my life.
Don’t feel bad about the pun Adam, I laughed aloud. (But then, I’m a geek.) It takes great skillz to make a microbiology pun. And even one with Biblical overtones! (In cold season, we ought not spare the rod. )
Good grief, it’s the pun that keeps going… Justine, with the rods and cones reference in relation to colour and that biblical one is great.
They weren’t intentional though.
It looks like collectively you’ve answered my question… It can be blue, it’s just that I’ve never encountered it. Something to look forward to.
It’s good to have things in life to look forward too.
vivid blue snot? that made my day.
The punning that goes on here is so erudite. So it falls to me to make the obvious juvenile reference “you may think it’s bogies, but it’s snot.”
i got blue snot today! i thought i just had a normal cold but no
and then i googled it to make sure i wasn’t dying and found this site. wow, i’m going to keep my tissues forever or sell them on ebay.
wow. i’ve had blue snot a few times but i never really knew why so when it happened again today i looked it up and i guess it’s normal…yay! i’m okay!