I am pretty sure that poor public health education plays a part. I think many of us underestimate the raw value of “common sense” knowledge like “don’t eat random wild animals,” or “salmonella is a thing,” because we have never lived without it.

We don’t often consider it, but someone has to communicate these health facts to people, and in a low-income state like this where the government actively scoffs at the idea of caring for its constituents, that probably just doesn’t happen as much as it should.