I’m sure y’all have read about the explosive diarrhea parasite, right? Well… I don’t want it — and I doubt you do either.
It’s a good thing Mr. Pesky has a garden.
I modified my grocery order this week taking off all the fresh produce that isn’t cooked before eating. Why?
- Because outbreaks are overwhelmingly tied to raw or fresh produce like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, leafy greens, basil, cilantro, parsley, snow peas, and other items that are hard to wash thoroughly or grown in areas with poor sanitation.
- Because I don’t want explosive diarrhea.
The scary diarrhea parasite is human-specific.
That means it only spreads via human feces. Basically, don’t eat vegetables that come from sources you don’t know. If you do, scrub them and pray before putting them in your mouth. Also, don’t swim in poop contaminated water.
Mr. Pesky doesn’t use contaminated water to irrigate his garden. He didn’t use human poop to fertilize it either. Fruits and vegetables from backyard gardens to eat, and private backyard pools to swim are the safest options right now.
If you don’t have a Mr. Pesky in your back pocket or decide to take a stroll through a sewer, rest easy knowing it is treatable by antibiotics.
Now you know: The first versions of “ketchup” were made with mushrooms, not tomatoes. The word first entered English in 1682. Tomato catsup emerged in 1817 which included anchovies and insects. In 1913, a dictionary had “catsup/ ketchup” as a table sauce made from mushrooms, tomatoes, and walnuts.