'Scourge': Killing the Disease - The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox

Aggg! That second article was depressing. Here's a quote that shows that the expert I saw on TV was wrong.

Sorry about that.

Still, informed and depressed probably beats unaware and cheerful...

"Small pox can be spread by people who don't yet know they have it and even by people who are infected but do not come down with the disease."

Absolutely true, tallhappy. Infected sheets and other types of clothing and linens can also infect during a specfic time frame.

In all fairness to Theresa, I think she (?) is attempting to calm people -- even herself. I believe in preparing for the worst case scenario -- then not having it occur. There is much conjecture and speculation at this point. I, for one, am a pragmatist who errs on the side of being overly suspicious and overly prepared. That does not mean I don't go for the "best" in all situations.

Operating from a position of overall knowledge and understanding of potential dangers, conflicts and adversity is definitely operating from a position of strength if used wisely.

ALTHOUGH it marked an event of far greater importance to human well-being and happiness than the moon landing, the date May 8, 1980, was largely unheralded at the time and is now mostly forgotten. That was when officers of the World Health Organization certified that smallpox had been eradicated from planet Earth. It was the first, and so far the only, infectious disease to have been eliminated from nature by human effort.[My bold added.]

Would PETA raise hell & sue under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) if the officials tried to eradicate a disease today?

I'm not sure if ESA covers viruses (probably not), but the "logic" of the animal rights (AR) wackos is that we should not interfere with nature or at least minimize our interference with nature. Therefore, even if the wackos approve treating a disease, their "logic" would dictate that we NEVER eradicate a disease. By definition the disease has an important function in the ongoing evolutionary or Darwinian processes and the overall ecology.

This may sound far-fetched, but the AR wackos already have farmers loosing their livelihoods over sucker fish and fire fighters dying because water from a stream with endangered species must be treated extra carefully.

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