®óñ© © ²°¹°-°² wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:01:20 +0100, Adrian
wrote and included this (or some of this):

I once worked with a chap from Hemel Hempsted, who had worked in the
watercress beds there (used to be able to see them from the train).
He told toe-curling stories of the creatures that used to lurk in among
the watercress... starting with leeches and getting rapidly more gruesome...

Some years ago we (Path Lab) diagnosed liver fluke infestation in
about 14 patients. Turns out they had all eaten watercress from a
farm near Chepstow. Some way upstream from the farm the stream had
been contaminated by sheep's droppings from infected sheep.
As far as I remember the patients were all treated successfully but it
wasn't easy and it wasn't quick. And of course, worst of all, they
were all off alcohol for yonks.




How on earth do you go about identifying a common link? Sounds like
looking for a needle in a haystack that may not even be there.

I was fascinated by a TV programme I saw about periodic asthma outbreaks
in Barcelona where, only by assembling vast amounts of data from every
conceivable source, were they able to spot a common set of conditions.

Sorry, way OT, but I couldn't resist