Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: neilep on 14/06/2008 17:56:21
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Greets Peeps,
I know there are some diseases that are communicable between differing species of animal...ie:....we both are susceptible to the same disease........but are there any that we share with the flora of the world ?
eg: can a daffodil catch a cold ?....can a geranium get cancer ?
Please don't misunderstand me...I'm not referring to things that we can catch from plants ie: poisons, stings etc...I am meaning shared ailments !!
Whajafink ?
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Cancer in plants forms growth called galls...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall
Plants can be affected by virus, e.g. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_mosaic_virus
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Plants get affected by viruses, but not the same ones that target people.
I guess both plants and people suffer from radiation sickness but probably not in the same way.
I doubt there are any comunicable diseases we have in common.
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Fungal infections would be a likely culprit. Aspergillus for one infects both plants (interfering with growth) and animals (Aspergillosis diseases in humans) - not really the same disease, but the same agent at least.
Chromosomal conditions such as polyploidy would occur in both, but animals tend not to survive those sorts of abnormalities whereas plants may be unaffected...so that probably doesn't count as a disease.
Do they have to be transmissible between plants and animals? If not, I suppose there's dwarfism...hmm...frostbite?
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Man Killed By Compost
By Sky News SkyNews - Friday, June 13 09:21 am
A man has died after inhaling lethal spores which grew on rotting compost in his garden.
The 47-year-old fell ill less than 24 hours after being engulfed by "clouds of dust" while working with rotting tree and plant mulch.
At first medics thought the previously healthy welder had pneumonia when he was admitted with severe breathing problems.
But when antibiotics failed to help, tests showed evidence of Aspergillosis, a reaction to Aspergillus spores.
The fungus is commonly found growing on dead leaves, stored grain, compost piles or decaying vegetation.
Its spores may trigger a relatively harmless allergic reaction or a much more serious destructive infection that begins in the lungs and spreads to other parts of the body.
The man's death - which followed kidney failure and treatment on a heart and lung machine - was reported in The Lancet medical journal.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/skynews/20080613/tuk-garden-biohazard-man-killed-by-compo-45dbed5.html
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Thank EWE all again for your wonderful posts.
Gratitude extended to RD, Bored Chemist and SquarishTriangle.
THANKS
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Oops! I forgot about the fungi.