Public Health Meets Pure Paranoia On The Brett Winterble Show

Tune in here to this Thursday's edition of the Brett Winterble Show! 

Brett dives into what he calls possibly the worst story he’s come across—news that a California resident has contracted the bubonic plague after being bitten by a flea while camping near South Lake Tahoe. Joined by Isaac and Lonnie, who immediately rate the story a “10” on the horror scale, Brett uses humor and disbelief to process the unsettling news. He mocks the idea of returning to “13th-century” problems in 2025 and questions why the plague hasn’t been completely eradicated from the planet. Brett makes it clear he’s not a camper—recalling fewer than four lifetime camping trips—and urges listeners to avoid rodents, fleas, and all things wild. He also highlights the importance of early treatment and prevention, like using insect repellent, though he jokes he’s opting to stay indoors permanently. Through it all, Brett delivers a mix of public service, comedy, and mild panic that’s both entertaining and informative.

Listen here for all of this and more on The Brett Winterble Show!

For more from Brett Winterble check out his YouTube channel.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
News Talk eleven ten out of nine three WBT Brant
Waterbow Show seven four five seven eleven ten. Okay, so
I came across a story that's maybe the worst story
I've had. Isaac is here, and Lonnie is here. Lonnie
on a one to ten, What is the rank of

(00:32):
this story? Like, how bad is this story? Uh?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Definitely a ten. It's a ten. This is a ten.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
This is a t And I'm doing this as a
public service to the American people because something, something just
came to my to my knowledge. I wish I didn't
have the knowledge.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is bad. This don't read the science. Okay, here
we go. You know, I don't play. I mean, I
don't play with these kinds of stories. This is terrible. California.
This is coming from California.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
A California resident has tested positive for plague. Health officials
believe the person was bitten by an infected flea while
camping in the South Lake Tahoe area.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Isaac is abandoning the show. He can't take. He may
be cursing out there. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
The case is raising eyebrows and making many people wonder.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, I would say plague. I'm really I'm wondering. I'm
wondering here. Quote. I think it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
I didn't even know the plague was still something that
was going on, said one Lake Tahoe visitor.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
How is the person doing?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Health officials say that the residents back at home, recovering
and expected to be okay. Doctor Peter Chen Hong is
an infectious disease expert at uc S of course San Francisco.

(02:29):
See he works at the University of California, San Francisco.
It's transmitted by bacteria through flea bites, so fleas that
live on rodents, including squirrels and chipmunks, said Chin Hong.
Chin Hong says that you can get it through flea

(02:53):
bites that live on rodents. What are we doing, gus?
What are we doing this? Just like what is this
the fifteenth the thirteenth century where people had to put
those weird things on their faces to go and doctor say,
don't worry. The plague is rare. So's my steak.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
What are you doing?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Bubonic plague is still it's plague. Yes, it's not just plague,
it's bubonic plague. Yes, doctors say the plague is rare.
Bubonic plague is still around but it's not common, not yet.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Not yet.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Is this how we're gonna Is this how they're gonna
get us this time? Is this how we're gonna get
shut down? Hey?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Sorry?

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Plague only about seven cases a year happened in the
United States, mostly in the West. You know what, I
want to live around a lot of people. I don't
want to live out on my own anymore because I
think I'm going to get like the bubonic plague when
I'm out there walking around petting a beautiful little prairie

(04:14):
dog or whatever it is that they're doing out there.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Gopher, stay away from the road.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's bubonic plague is still around. It's not very common,
only about seven cases per year in the United States,
mainly in the West, so California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico,
said Chinhong. Chinhong is the doctor. It's not as common
as it was in the Middle Ages.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
It's worse.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
It's not as common as it was in the Middle Age,
as when twenty five million people died, but with improved
sanitation and not a lot of rats as rats running
around and less chance for the bacteria to thrive in flourish.
It's kind of all but disappeared except for a few

(05:05):
pockets around the world. Now, why did we not wipe
out the pockets around the world. If, like, you know
that there are pockets of plague around the world, why
are you not going down there and taking whatever you
gotta do, hot water, scrub, whatever you got to.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
I mean, why are we not.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
Taking the most biggest chemicals and just deploying them to
get rid of the plague?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Like, why do we have to keep some plague around?
Keep some plague around?

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Right?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So it's like, hey, what.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Do you got in that closet that I keep plague
up there in case we needed for some reason. Okay,
here we go, Here we go. I'm gonna be honest
with you, right with the entire audience.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Okay, Brett Winterble doesn't camp.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
No, the number of times I have camped over the
course of my lifetime fewer than four. I'm sometimes, you know,
I would be like in an RV or something like that.
I'm talking about camp camp, like on the ground with

(06:17):
a tarb yep. Okay, with like a some kind of
an ocelot coming over to mess around with me when
I'm trying to sleep. Okay, doctor says, it's important to
be aware that getting the plague is possible. Quote, many
of us love to go camping. Not me, Nope, we

(06:38):
have dogs, We love to go out and hike. I
think we should know that rodents in the area rarely
but still do carry or are inflected with infected with
plague and fleas from those rodents can come and bite
us and transmit this disease.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Not winnable because I'm not paying out there.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
I'm not getting ticks and fleas and plague, and I'm
not getting I'm not getting any of that stuff. No way,
no way, sit your button down, no way. I think
that's what we have to be aware about. You sure,
stay in a hotel, get a hotel or a or

(07:22):
a the trunk of your car or whatever it's gotta be.
And we should not forget. But we should not panic. No,
I'm gonna panic when you're throwing me plague, bubonic plague
that killed twenty five million. Now think about twenty five
million that died, Okay, relative to the number of people
on the earth at that time, Like that's that's probably

(07:45):
like two hundred and fifty billion people dead now or
whatever it is. Yeah, See, I don't like this Why
are we not wiping out the rodents? Why are we
not getting rid of the fleas? I don't understand. People
get ticks and stuff like that. Why can't we wipe
out all the ticks? I don't want any ticks, are
not useful of any in any way, shape or form.

(08:06):
And don't be a wise guy and call me. You know,
they're very important for the for the humanity of the earth.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
No, no, we're not doing that. We're not doing that.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Doctor Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute and professor
at UCSF. We have wonderful medicines, applied antibiotics that work
against bacteria, and they work against the plague. They work
very well if they are applied early. I don't know
what that means. I don't want to know what that

(08:37):
means about being early.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Here's the thing, Isaac, just think about this for a second.
You can get fever, headache, muscle aches, kind of like
the flu. But the big difference is with this kind
of plague, it's you gotta check, you gotta feel up
your your swollen lymph nodes. More than ninety percent survive.

(09:00):
You can help prevent it by wearing insect repel it.
I'm just not going out anymore. I think I'm just
done with this. This nature thing is really overrated. I
just wanna I think I'm gonna build one of those
Egyptian pyramids and just living that