Along with the usual messages in Spanish and emails about avocados, Under The Counter’s electronic mailbag recently bulged with a dire warning he cheerily just had to share with colleagues: holidays can kill!
So if you’re reading this and were lucky enough to get away somewhere over the summer, congratulations. You’re still alive.
Raging wildfires aside, this summer’s European heatwave apparently led to outbreaks of exotic and potentially fatal diseases in previously unaffected areas, like tick-borne encephalitis and West Nile virus.
The grim warning came from London Medical Laboratory’s Dr Avinash Hari Narayanan. As part of his spiel to get everyone to buy one of London Medical’s expensive allergy tests, he said: “The good news is the West Nile virus is normally almost symptomless. However, people aged over 50 or with co-morbidities such as cancer, diabetes or hypertension, are at risk of getting seriously ill.”
Not really good news then, especially for the co-morbid community, since an infection could lead to fits, meningitis or even water on the brain.
However the real good news, if you like jokes that are even older than UTC, is that the Auld Boy knows a simple cure for water on the brain: a quick tap on the head.
