Not long ago, in a small village in the southern Czech city of Českobudějovick, a strange thing happened -
A priest inexplicably cut off his genitals with a knife, only to find out that the culprit of his self-harm was actually a small tick......
(Schematic diagram)
The priest was found in his own home.
On the day of the incident, he was supposed to attend a meeting, but he couldn't show up, and his friends, worried about his personal safety, contacted the firefighters to check on his home.
The firefighters broke down the door and saw a rather horrific scene - the priest was lying unconscious in a pool of blood, and for some reason his genitals had been cut off......
(Schematic diagram)
The priest was then taken to the hospital, but his condition deteriorated and he fell into a coma, where he remained on a ventilator for more than ten days.
To add insult to injury, he was also infected with a virus of some kind, which made the treatment even more complicated......
As he was no longer able to communicate with people normally, the medical staff were greatly hindered in investigating the cause, and it took a long time to discover the cause of his physical abnormality - damage to the nervous system.
At the moment, there is not much coverage of the details of the diagnosis, and the media only learned from the mouth of an adjugate bishop, David Henzl, that the priest turned out to be suffering from tick-borne encephalitis.
It is a viral infection involving the central nervous system, and the most common route of infection is through tick bites.
On average, about 10% of patients will develop severe disease, and the mortality rate for severe patients varies from 1% to 35% depending on the virus subtype.
(Schematic diagram of ticks)
Patients may start with headaches, fever, nausea, and flu-like symptoms, but after a few days they will gradually progress to more serious neurological disorders such as encephalitis and meningitis, becoming confused, having difficulty speaking and seeing, and even convulsions.
In addition, the disease may also cause personality changes and even mental confusion in the patient, and it is now preliminarily concluded that the priest belongs to the latter category.
Combined with the investigation results of the local police, it was confirmed that no one else had physically attacked the priest on the day of the incident, so it can be roughly judged that the incident happened - the priest was first bitten by a tick carrying the virus, and unfortunately contracted tick-borne encephalitis, which caused a certain mental illness, and he was so cruel to himself in the chaos......
(Schematic diagram)
It's hard to imagine how a small tick can do so much harm to people. After the priest's experience was reported by the media, it sparked concern among netizens:
"Those damn ticks......"
"I have a childhood friend who developed encephalitis in his 50s. She completely lost the ability to think and could only live in a mental hospital for the rest of her life. She just wanted to die. It was terrible for her and her family. Watch out for all the ticks!"
"It's amazing how the tiniest insects can cause the most serious diseases. You can't actually protect yourself 100 percent. Even the most attentive outdoorsman can be bitten by a tick and develop disease. ”
"In the 1980s, a friend of mine got encephalitis after being bitten by a mosquito in Florida. We found out early, so she was quickly diagnosed and admitted to the hospital. It took her a long time to finally regain her strength and she is now healthy. ”
In fact, what happened to the priest, as outrageous as it sounds, is by no means unique.
There are many others like him who have suffered from tick-borne encephalitis.
According to data provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the Czech Republic has one of the highest rates of tick-borne encephalitis in Europe, with 500 to 1,000 cases per year. The city of Budějovice, where the priest is located, is particularly serious.
In addition to the Czech Republic, the disease is common in many countries in Western, Eastern and Central Europe and North Asia. Due to the warming of the climate, ticks multiply in large numbers, and the incidence rate has been increasing dozens of times in recent years.
Marina Sogolov, a 68-year-old woman, was one of the victims.
Last year, she was on a trip to Estonia with her husband when she was accidentally bitten by a tick, and it didn't take long for her to become confused, unable to disorient herself, and even have difficulty speaking.
After several medical visits, she was finally diagnosed with tick-borne encephalitis, which almost endangered her life......
(患者Marina Sogolov和她的丈夫)
Whether it was Father Fr. or Marina Sogolov, what happened to them was a cautionary tale for others:
Never underestimate the lethality of a bug, it can even cause people to do the bizarre act of wielding a knife from the palace......