[Sca-cooks] noncooking topic

[Terry Decker]

To my knowledge, there has never been a documented case of human infection 
from mold or bacteria found in an Egyptian tomb.  However, some of the tombs 
have been found to contain Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, a 
couple of truly nasty molds that cause respiratory problems.  Sarcophagi 
sometimes contain ammonia, formaldehyde or hydrogen sulfide.  There is also 
a good possibility of a tomb containing Pseudomonas or Staphylococcus 
bacteria.

Archeologists have been afflicted with the diseases anthrax, aspergillosis, 
blastomycosis, cryptococossis, mucormycosis, and tetanus.  All of these are 
fungi whose spores can survive for long periods in the soil of digs.  And if 
you are dealing with subjects who have died of plague, typhoid, typhus, 
Spanish flu, etc., there is always a remote possibility of infection.  I'll 
let you decide if you want a mask.

Heat, moisture and light are tend to cause damage to tombs and their 
contents, so if you're serious about protecting them, don't worry about 
respiratory protection, throw the tourists out.

Bear

.Aruvqan commented:
<<< I think I also had rather nasty things
to say about his technique [after he popped open a sarcophogus live on
TV with no respiratory protection] >>>

Do you think the respiratory protection is needed to protect the people in 
the room, or to protect the contents of the sarcophagus?

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at gmail.com