This led the investigators to the home of the potluck’s gravy-preparer:

She reported having two pet bearded dragons at home. The gravy was never brought to a boil and drippings were added over several days. We visited her home and took environmental swabs. We found multiple swabs positive for Salmonella Labada, a rare serotype, including inside and outside the dragons’ terrarium, a dragon’s stool sample, a cloacal swab from a dragon (a fun activity!), bathroom sink, and kitchen sink.

I don’t really have anything else to say about this, other than it struck me as oddly funny.

Regardless, the moral of the story is don’t let your bearded dragons roam your kitchen countertop while you leisurely prepare mashed potatoes and gravy. Oh, and you should probably wash your hands too.

On a slightly different, and perhaps more uplifting note, the woman in Germany who accidentally pricked herself with a needle while working with ebola was declared healthy and released from isolation last week. An experimental vaccine was administered within 48 hours of the needle stick. She did generate a small antibody response, but without sensitive tests against ebola’s nuclear proteins, they can’t be sure if the response was against the vaccine or the virus. At this point, they’re not even sure the virus ever entered her body. Hopefully this incident will push the development and further testing of an ebola vaccine, if for no other reason than to help the hypochondriacs sleep at night.