Walk along the Ross River

Today, I walked along the Ross River with my mum. Along the way I took these photos. The Ross River Dam provides Townsville's drinking water. The Ross River is also the source of the name of Ross River fever, a mosquito-borne disease that causes fever, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, joint swelling and rash. Ross River fever derives its name from the fact that the virus that causes it was first isolated from a mosquito captured along the Ross River. It is one of three medical discoveries that I can think of that involve Townsville or its people. Another is Reye syndrome, which was named after a Townsville-born pathologist named Ralph Douglas Kenneth Reye. Reye was also the first to identify nemaline myopathy, but he didn't publish his findings due to another physician dismissing his findings. Reye was also notable for dying within 24 hours of his retirement at age 65 from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Along the way I saw ducks, other birds and turtles.