Too Much Imagination

I have far too much imagination to be sensible.  Most of the time I enjoy it, but sometimes I regret it utterly.  I also know a lot of random facts which, again, is enjoyable most of the time but can be inconvenient.

I went back to the doctor and he gave me a different type of antibiotic.  I googled to see what the side effects were as the label was alarming and I found that not only was this antibiotic used to treat coughs, but also the plague.  I would have felt more comfortable if the doctor in question hadn't been obviously following an flow chart and making paper notes. 

Plague is still kicking around.  There are usually a few cases in the US every year and lots in Madagascar.  It's easily treated if diagnosed early - usually by the antibiotics I am currently taking. 

However, if you are looking for a story (and I love stories) then I recently bought some Yak yarn (yarn that is at least 25% yak hair) from China.  The evidence from the epidemic that hit Europe between 1347 and 1351 shows that the original bacteria could possibly be traced to marmots on the Mongolian steppe - which is quite close to China and where you could possibly find yaks.  Studies show that the plague bacteria can live in textiles for up to forty days (quarantine came from the Italian for forty days as the Venetians used to make the silk merchants wait forty days before unloading their textiles, just in case).  Theoretically, I could have imported the plague!

Except of course I haven't.  The yarn has been out and about for longer than forty days, I'm not showing the symptoms and I sincerely doubt that bacteria would have migrated to the yarn and then survived the dyeing, spinning and packaging process before taking a loooong time in shipping.  If plague was going to come in with an import then I think Madagascan vanilla would be a better bet, depending on how it was packed (I don't think the bacteria can live on vanilla pods, but perhaps it could survive on sacking).  But it makes a great (if implausible) story. 

I think I may be affected by the temperature I'm running.