Would you like flies with that?
At least clean those bits of fly off your tongue first...
In December 2009, hospitals in the USA noticed a sharp increase in people presenting with salmonella poisoning. Curiously, the vast majority of new cases were in girls under 10 years old.
However, it didn't take long for epidemiologists to make the connection. It was just after the release of the Disney movie, 'The Princess and the Frog'.
Bonus Bubblegum
So is salmonella named after salmon? No - a Salmon. Daniel Elmer Salmon. Salmon headed up the US veterinary research facility where 'Salmonella Enterica' (which causes hog cholera) was first isolated by research scientist Theobald Smith in 1885.
The 'Princess and the Frog' is an adaptation of The Brothers Grimm's fairy tale Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich (The Frog Prince; or Iron Henry), traditionally the first story in their collection.
The story of the Frog Prince itself goes back to Roman times, with a version of the story in Petronius's Satyricon, in which the character Trimalchio remarks that, "qui fuit rana nunc est rex" ("The man who was once a frog is now a king.").
Some scholars believe the story may be a jab at Emperor Nero (Nerō Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, 37AD – 68AD), whose enemies often unfavourably compared him with a frog.
A Russian folk version Tsarevna Lyagushka (The Frog Princess) reverses the male and female roles: the male prince Ivan Tsarevich discovers the enchanted female frog who becomes Vasilisa the Wise, a female sorceress.
Read More
The Princess and the Frog on Wikipedia
Image credit: Vintage public domain illustration by Warwick Goble
