Posted on 10/14/2005 11:25:03 AM PDT by JoeBob
Edited on 10/18/2005 8:32:53 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON -- While official Washington has been poring over Harriet Miers' long-ago doings on the Dallas City Council and parsing the Byzantine comings and goings of the Fitzgerald grand jury, relatively unnoticed was perhaps the most momentous event of our lifetime -- what is left of it, as I shall explain. It was announced last week that American scientists have just created a living, killing copy of the 1918 ``Spanish'' flu.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
According to a Freeper who posted the other day, bird flu is more deadly than other forms because bird body temperatures are normally much higher than mammals'. So if you need a temperature of maybe 106 to kill normal flu virus, bird flu virus will continue to thrive at that temperature.
If there is even a small chance of these scenarios taking place, then Krauthammer is quite right to worry. We have no idea where the Spanish flu came from, or why it vanished as suddenly as it came. Next time, it might not vanish, but continue mutating into new forms as ordinary flu does.
Viruses can't tell who's Muslim and who's not.
Sounds similar to the book, "The Satan Bug".
Hyperbole. Bubonic Plague had a huge impact on history. But Spanish Flu in 1918, although it killed many people, had negligible impact.
I think we all have very good reason to worry that the mullahs with their unlimited financial resources from oil will try to get their hands on this stuff to rid the world of the *infidels*.
Semper Paratus is correct that a virus doesn't discriminate but the muslims don't care.
Our species has a death wish.
Ping!
Not this Species! I want to live forever just to be able to bug the Dim bulbs. :)
Now that we have the virus, the vaccine is no more difficult to develop than any other flu vaccine.
So9
At what? Saving your ass again? That's right.
Pandemics happen. They always have. But now we can fight back. We can grow these viruses, we can take them apart, we can figure out how they work, we can learn how to defeat them.
Vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives over the last century. But we can't have those unless scientists are permitted to study the viruses, and yes, that means growing them in the lab. Especially the most dangerous ones.
People who want the benefits of science, while heaping scorn upon scientists and their methods, remind me of the people who want the benefits of freedom, while heaping scorn upon our military.
Seems sensible.
Any professionals out there to comment?
This kind of flu boils down to this...your lungs fill with blood and you drown.
Between the threats of Moslem nukes, ordinary large earthquakes and killer asteroids, this one is still five mutations away from being interesting.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007XWMZQ/qid=1129316306/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9961854-0948814?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
But vaccines--or rather their administrators--can. Do you expect the vaccines to come from the U.S., or from the Islamic world?
Beyond that, our society is much better equipped to quell outbreaks, stabilize victims, and prevent the transmission of disease than a poor society, even in the complete absence of a vaccine. The next pandemic (and it is coming) will not hit all societies equally.
Bump for later read.
FYI - I know there are other knowledgeable freepers who post on the Avian flu threads but can't remember all the names.
If any of you comment on the article or comments, please ping me. I always value your opinion, when I can understand it...
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