The Curse of Konzo
by Matt Castle from Damn Interesting on (#3P7E1)
On 21 August 1981, Australian physician Julie Cliff received the following message on her telex, a print-on-paper precursor to modern text messaging: "Polio outbreak. Memba District. 38 cases. Reflexes increased." The apparently routine message was sent from the Provincial Health Directorate in Nampula, a city in northern Mozambique. Cliff worked in the epidemiology department of ["]