Posted on 12/14/2011 4:59:02 AM PST by James Oscar
First, they are close to the ground, and more likely to inhale higher concentrations of pulverized guano than adults whose air intakes are normally significantly higher up.
Second, Toddlers are notorious for putting everything in their mouths, and decidedly unsanitary in their habits (fingers in everything, and subsequent oral contact).
Third, and related to both of the foregoing, they are at a level where they will pursue, and occasionally catch fowl, and short of being pecked, will even hug them. They are more likely to breathe the very air molecules the birds exhale due to proximity, and associated pathogens with them.
The seeming disease preference might only be a question of stature and habit selecting the demographic, rather than medical factors.
As for Mother Abigail's prediction, yes, it raises a hair or two on the back of my neck...We'll see what develops.
Yes...but King being a struggling English teacher before he got “famous” was very familiar with “Masque”. When I read “The Stand” I immediately thought of Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”!
I think the US spooks may have been monitoring your posts, James. A shot in the dark perhaps, on my part but as you quote MA...”There are no coincidences...”!
This, however, jumped out at me, perhaps becaus3e I was talking with a friend who had been a few states south and west of here, who said wild pigs were everywhere...there. He saw them as a potential food source in tough times, but this presents a different face:
Pigs are seen as a possible intermediate host that can help in that adaptation because the epithelial cells in pigs' trachea can be infected by both avian and human flu. Where, in the event of co-infection, viral reassortment might occur.
It is not just the increase in mutation, but the neuraminidase inhibitors would not be in use if the flu virus wasn't present. Both the HIV and Flu variant together with increased mutation rates in the HIV present an opportunity for the sort of recombinant development which would present a 'superbug', an HIV variant which would be more contagious, and could cause the cytokine storms she describes.
Why out of Egypt?
Not just the flu, but the sexual attitudes toward young men in islam, and the 'silent' HIV progress through that population increase the chance of both being in the same patient at the same time...
This is a frightening prospect, if it occurs.
Thank you,
That is a great resource to have.
I did not realize others were archiving the SARS threads on FR and the remarkable transformation that continues to this day.
Thanks again
On face value it could be just another of many EOTWAWKI predictions found on the Internet, but when you know of her history with SARS and Ebola - it has to give you pause. Or at least it did with me.
I am amazed to this day as to how she, having been long retired from Epidemiological field work, predicted the host vector of Ebola - litteraly from her library chair on an old WebTv.
Cool stuff.
It seems excessive to me. I am also curious as to why the world has concentrated so many resources and such a state-of-the-art viral outbreak reporting network in a place like Egypt.
If you go to sites like FluTrackers, there are so many eyes on that geographical area and so many rapid response reporting mechanisms - it just seems out of place.
Very odd...
I think you have just described my attitude as of late. I do now watch and post things that seem to be relevant to my novella but I have very mixed feelings about the entire experience with MA and the two year long writing - it changed my life. Meeting and knowing her radically redirected my world view of many, many things.
I suppose it is always like that when encounter someone of exceptional presence.
But in all honesty, sometimes I wish (like the guy in the Matrix) I had taken the other pill. Would be nice to be back chasing women, drinking too much and as naive as a child to the dangers in the world.
Now I am spending my weekends with real estate agents looking at cabins high up in the Sierras, with a good water source and very limited access.
Some things can't be undone. It is what it is. You make a choice and the lessons learned are what makes you the person you are. While I realize that the person I once was, spent his life in a bubble of self-absorbed petty recreation - knowledge comes with a price.
I suppose this is what my depression era raised father always referred to when he said “someday you will grow up”.
Sorry to vent but it just came out.
More like the opening pages of The Stand.
Chances are that by the time a fast-moving, highly contagious disease was recognized to be a threat, it would be widespread enough that the damage would be done. Every time you walk through the ER, there are people presenting with URT symptoms, sniffles and sneezing among them--in this scenario, any one of them could be transmitting the new variant by air.
Small groups would be most likely to survive, and those with limited human contact outside the group. (Think wilderness area hikers, families on camping trips, etc.) Virtually anyone in a large population cluster would be toast unless they had some natural immunity which is unknown. Most would take it home to or catch it from their families before they knew they were infected.
Defoe's Journal of the Plague Years might be closer, but this could be far worse.
Of course, the question remains of whether the survivors would be able to salvage stuff from the ruins without getting infected themselves, and if so, how soon? Without that capability, civilization as we know it would be set back a few centuries at best within a generation.
Agreed. The HIV reservoir is totally unknown due to the reasons you cite as well as the stigma that prevents even rudimentary testing.
Well, I’m pretty alert to seeing influxes of persons with strange patterns of Flu.
2 years ago we had an influx of young folks 18 to 25 come in with Flu sx’s and strange streaky temps” during the H1ni/scare. They never called it pneumonia per se, pneumonitis was used a few times as a dx and all the bacterial cultures came back negative...at least the initial ones.(They got prophylactically treated for potential bacterial “ride ins”) Of course all of them seemed to test “negative” for any sort of flu, but I felt at the time the data was being “hushed” up.
Massive steroids and antipyretics helped them get past the “crash” stage but they were intubated for a week or more. One I remember was a rather “cut” young man, one who one would never think that could get so sick! A number of staff became ill off and on at the same time but we’d all had flu shots provided by the hospital so none of the staff got so ill that they needed to be hospitalized. But it was a “flu” that just sort of “hung” on to those of us that had it for a month or more...the initial symptoms would ease up and we’d come back to work, but low energy and sinus/cough issues persisted for up to a month in most of us.
I suppose if I saw a suddden influx of folks with atypical flu sx’s(and one gets a feel for when the patterns don’t fit right)...I’ll isolate myself from my family and tell my wife and kids to take cover and do little out in public as much as possible. The kids thru school might have already had exposure but if no symptoms..they might have gotten lucky enough to have avoided it.
LOL, how ya doing walkin’ man.
James,
Thanks for your time in this. Very interesting interview. Chat later.
CJ
“Of course, the question remains of whether the survivors would be able to salvage stuff from the ruins without getting infected themselves”
I would assume there would be a few people who would be immune for some reason.
“Of course, the question remains of whether the survivors would be able to salvage stuff from the ruins without getting infected themselves”
I would assume there would be a few people who would be immune for some reason.
My understanding from MA is that when the exposed hosts die the virus dies.
She explained that this is a very targeted virus in general and the mutation is extremely targeted.
Burns fast, spreads like we cannot imagine and then dies with the last warm host.
The virus is very fragile and cannot survive in a non human environment.
Immunity is not the issue - dropping your tools and running to the hills is the issue.
Watch Egypt.
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