Why is it

[draggonlaady]

that people have this overwhelming urge to call things something they are not?

Current example bothering me is Distemper. Distemper is a particular virus, which affects canids primarily but some other animals (mustelids, raccoons...) are also unlucky enough to be susceptible. It causes respiratory and neurologic signs. This is distemper.

So why do people persist in calling feline panleukopenia "Cat distemper"? It's an entirely unrelated virus which causes intestinal upset and a severe drop in white blood cells (which is, by the way, exactly what "panleukopenia" means--low white blood cells). It is a parvo virus, not a distemper virus, and there's pretty decent evidence that canine parvo virus started as a strain of feline parvo virus. So you'd think, what with it being a disease in existence long before canine parvo, that it would have it's own proper name and the canine disease would be named after it, right? No. Of course not. It gets dubbed "distemper" despite being a totally different disease with different signs and a different viral cause.

And now this shit. I read the title to this article and said "What the hell is equine distemper?" I'm a veterinarian, I should know this shit, right? Well it isn't anything. What they're calling "equine distemper" isn't even VIRUS, let alone a distemper virus! It's a bacterial infection (Streptococcus equi, if you care) that has been a problem for hundreds or thousands of years, and ALREADY HAS A COMMON NAME (Strangles) which has been in use since before either virus or bacteria was identified, so what is the bloody point of dubbing it this other, misleading name? Fuck. Isn't reporting supposed to spread accurate information?

Comments

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

No, that doesn't make me feel better--just shows how wide spread the stupidity is :P
The diseases already have their own names, why hijack the name from a totally unrelated condition? I swear it's just to confuse people.

[jacksontwobears.livejournal.com]

Mostly it comes from people who have no brain power and a little bit of a podium.
They don't care what they say, as long as someone listens.

"2+2=17"
"Uh, that's not correct."
"Shhhh! I'm talking!"

I usually preface statements involving medical terms with the idea that the closest I ever came to any kind of medical school was watching House.
At least I know I don't know anything.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Yeah. 2 episodes of CSI (during which I muttered "bullshit" frequently) are the closest I've gotten to forensic science. ;)

[jacksontwobears.livejournal.com]

The biggest problem I have with forensic shows (and I'm a huge fan!) is the time frame.

They get DNA in hours, Trace has all fibers and particulates off the body in minutes, computers run through ALL KNOWN DATABASES within seconds, and the reality is that a lot of time-consuming hard work by no-name lab rats is left out because it doesn't make for good television.

You'll note that is my biggest problem.
Not my only one. :)

[fr33f0x.livejournal.com]

But imagine how dull such shows would be if we had to sit through them waiting hours and days for results. I already get restless when I have to wait 30 secs for a comp to boot. Entertainment over education, lol.

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

But how hard would it be to have a lab tech say "I'll get right on that. We'll have results for you in 3 weeks." And then just skip/summarize the intervening time instead of having uber-lab-tech say "Yep, I can do that in 2 hours."

Makes little or no difference to how the show plays out, or the running time of the episode, just makes it MUCH more real.

[sphynx-again.livejournal.com]

hey wait, I thought distemper was rabies!

That's why I usually just say, when explaining vaccines, "your cat has received the basic indoor only cat shots, show this to your veterinarian, and ask if they recommend anything additional for your particular situation."

So, basically, I pass the buck to folks like you. :)

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Heh. And that's fine. 'Course, then the adopter comes in and can't remember what they did with the paperwork, or whether you microchipped the pet, or if it had a rabies vaccination... ;)

[fr33f0x.livejournal.com]

"Isn't reporting supposed to spread accurate information?"

You clearly haven't read Chomsky. The "free-er" a society is the more it is in need of propaganda. (Though, granted, I wouldn't know in whose interest it is to keep us in the dark about such animal diseases... maybe you can come up with a suitable conspiracy theory ^_^)

[draggonlaady.livejournal.com]

Well, after my "discussion" with Kate last night, I'm a go with it's a conspiracy of homeopathic/holistic medicine practitioners to keep people so confused that the actual scientists and doctors can't possibly straighten the mess out!