Rahm Emanuel talked about his days a teenage Arby’s employee, and the time he sliced off his middle finger while cleaning a roast beef slicer. Always the resourceful one, Emanuel decided to dress his wound himself. Notes Emanuel: “I ended up with two blood infections, two bone infections, gangrene, two weeks in the hospital, a 105 fever, and was about one day away from looking at the other side of the ledger.”

His life and political career

Rahm Emanuel, born 1959, mayor of Chicago (USA), a democrat and advisor to Bill Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s administrations.

Rahm Emanuel, the long-time Democratic insider who served as chief of staff to President Barack Obama before being twice elected as mayor of Chicago, was one of 41 ambassadorial nominees confirmed overnight. Emanuel will serve as ambassador to Japan.

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Loses his finger in adolescence

He lost part of his right middle finger while cutting meat at a restaurant, where he worked while in high school. Carelessly enough, he then went to swim in Lake Michigan, and some infection in the water entered the wound. The doctors had to amputate the first digit of the damaged finger to prevent the infection from spreading further.

What differs Lake Michigan from Cousteau’s Precontinent III is the water, which is still and fresh. In non-renewing, non-salty water, infections have more chances of survival.

But what infection cost the mayor a fingertip? If it really was something in the water, the most probable candidate is Pseudomonas bacteria. They indeed live in water, soil, and plants and may lead to amputation, if the bacteria sticks to a fresh open wound.

However, there’s one problem. The bacteria only strikes already very ill people. Healthy human immune system gives Pseudomonas almost no chance.

The treatment

That means, that Rahm Emanuel had to be either very ill, or received antibiotic treatment and/or had weakened immune system. Since he was in his teens, was at work that day and went swimming afterwards.

If it was an infection, he probably acquired if from somewhere else: from the raw meat he was cutting or from various objects Rahm Emanuel touched on his journey to the lake.

This is confirmed by his own words, admitting he had 5 blood infections, 2 bone infections and a gangrene. That means that he either caught a major infection which opened gates for the rest of them, or had some immunity problems. And we’re talking down to earth human immunity here, not a political one.

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