Skip to comments.
Medical Experts Speak Out -- SARS Virus Could Be Man-Made and Possibly a Bio-Weapon
News Pundit.net ^
| 4/11/2003
| Douglas Oliver
Posted on 04/11/2003 4:47:04 PM PDT by ex-Texan
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-83 next last
1
posted on
04/11/2003 4:47:04 PM PDT
by
ex-Texan
To: ex-Texan
Not a very effective bio-weapon, if it is one - what, a 4% death rate?
2
posted on
04/11/2003 4:50:06 PM PDT
by
mvpel
(Michael Pelletier)
To: All
We Replaced Patrick Leahy's Brains With Folger's Crystals. Let's See If Anyone Notices!
|
|
Donate Here By Secure Server
Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
or you can use
PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
|
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!
|
3
posted on
04/11/2003 4:50:42 PM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: mvpel
The best weapons are not necessarily those that kill. If, for instance, you infect a lot of troops, they cannot fight because they would be too sick, and scarce resources and numerous other personnel would be tied up in caring for them.
I've been worried since the start of the War about this possibility with our troops in Iraq. I don't think it is a coincidence that SARS appeared at about the same time as the start of the War.
To: mvpel
It is more complicated. The death rate almost doubles (~1.8 per decade) for
every decade of age of the patient.
It is a very serious infection for those over 40.
5
posted on
04/11/2003 5:00:18 PM PDT
by
Diogenesis
(If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.)
To: mvpel
Oh I don't know...
It is obvious that it has the power to cause a lot of damage. Just look at the chaos in Asia it has caused and the economic damage.
I have had a hunch about this for a while now. It seems to me that the Chinese were/are acting just a bit too paranoid (even for them) for this bug to be random happenstance.
I think it was being researched as a bio-weapon and escaped due to carelessness. If true, the Chi-Coms are going to have major egg on their faces and we all know how they react when that is a possibility.
6
posted on
04/11/2003 5:00:26 PM PDT
by
Ronin
To: ex-Texan
Sorry, but yesterday the NIH identified it as a variant Coronavirus (common cold). New variants turn up regularly, that's why we don't have a vaccine for the common cold, there is too fast a change in the mix.
This one is more lethal than any in years, but still less than 5% lethality.
That is way too low for a bioweapon.
So9
7
posted on
04/11/2003 5:01:17 PM PDT
by
Servant of the Nine
(We are the Hegemon. We can do anything we damned well please.)
To: mvpel
Oh I don't know...
It is obvious that it has the power to cause a lot of damage. Just look at the chaos in Asia it has caused and the economic damage.
I have had a hunch about this for a while now. It seems to me that the Chinese were/are acting just a bit too paranoid (even for them) for this bug to be random happenstance.
I think it was being researched as a bio-weapon and escaped due to carelessness. If true, the Chi-Coms are going to have major egg on their faces and we all know how they react when that is a possibility.
8
posted on
04/11/2003 5:01:40 PM PDT
by
Ronin
To: mvpel
Was this a test of the World Heath Organization, or how quickly the U.S. is capable of reacting to a bio-weapon ? .... It was just a test -- I believe.
The death rate for the Spanish flu was only 2.5% but it killed over 20 million people. The virus may mutate as it ages and develops. At the end of the cycle with Spanish it had mutated and was killing 28% ...
The Chinese might even kill off 20% of their population with SARS ... which might be a good thing for them. They have far too many people.
9
posted on
04/11/2003 5:04:27 PM PDT
by
ex-Texan
(primates capitulards toujours en quete de fromage!)
To: mvpel
6.7% in Singapore and they have taken the most drastic measures so far.
To: mvpel
Yes, but definitely a low-tech delivery system. Just infect a few people and send them out in the world.
11
posted on
04/11/2003 5:06:48 PM PDT
by
MizSterious
("The truth takes only seconds to tell."--Jack Straw)
To: ex-Texan
It was just a test -- I believe. But why in Hong Kong?
To: ex-Texan
Weird article.
"there is no vaccine for this virus"
I am under the impression that there is no vaccine for any virus.
13
posted on
04/11/2003 5:07:03 PM PDT
by
Sam Cree
(HHD)
To: ex-Texan
""there is no vaccine for this virus, its make-up is unclear, it has not been very widespread and the population is not immune to it." * * * Hmmm- let me think about this for a minute. I guess that, by these criteria, EVERY new strain of "Flu" is a bioweapon, too? And how about colds? No vaccines, little immunity... This is the reasoning of a High School sophomore- in a mediocre school.
To: Diogenesis
Could you please point me to the source of this (and maybe other) statistic?
15
posted on
04/11/2003 5:10:10 PM PDT
by
TopQuark
To: ex-Texan
The virus, ...is a cocktail of mumps and measles, whose mix could never appear in nature. ..."We can only get that in a laboratory.... It may have spread because of an "accidental leak" from a lab, he added. I doubt that it was accidental. If true, it was leaked intentionally to test its effectiveness. What is a few deaths to an over-populated, communist country?
16
posted on
04/11/2003 5:10:26 PM PDT
by
Jemian
(Walk softly and drop a REALLY BIG bomb.)
To: Sam Cree
I am under the impression that there is no vaccine for any virus. Good grief. What do you think "flu shots" are for? Or measles vaccinations? Or smallpox?
Perhaps you're thinking that antibiotics don't work against viruses, which would be true.
17
posted on
04/11/2003 5:11:35 PM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: Sam Cree
"I am under the impression that there is no vaccine for any virus." Well, it's not THAT bad. ow about Polio vaccine, Flu vaccines, Hepatitis A and B vaccines, Yellow Fever vaccine- Measles, Mumps, Rubella, to name a few.
It is true that some viruses mutate so quickly that it is almost impossible to make an effective vaccine against them- but many don't.
To: Dog Gone; RANGERAIRBORNE
"Perhaps you're thinking that antibiotics don't work against viruses, which would be true."
Yeah, that is what I was thinking.
Thanks, guys, that's a relief.
19
posted on
04/11/2003 5:14:07 PM PDT
by
Sam Cree
(HHD)
To: ex-Texan
I doubt it is a bio weapon. Even if it is a serious item to those over 40, and there is a death rate progression, those of 90 aren't too worried. The articles I read indicates the disease is no worse than a politically correctly named Asian Flu and it is a cross between Clamydia and Pneumonia. Who knows what they were eating in Hong Kong?
20
posted on
04/11/2003 5:22:53 PM PDT
by
Henchman
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-83 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson