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http://www.msnbc.com/news/885653.asp

So, what do you think? Is it bioterrorism?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

fgalkin wrote:http://www.msnbc.com/news/885653.asp

So, what do you think? Is it bioterrorism?

Some new disease probably just decided to stop on in. Most likely it's something that finally made the jump to humans and we're noticing it now for the first time.

I doubt it's bioterrorism. It's just a new disease.

I'd think a boiweapon would spread faster than that. Then again, I don't know to much about biological weapons.

Either way, new diseases pop in and out, its harldy a new phenomenon. Probably just getting special notice because of the state the world is in.

It seems to be a powerful form of pneumonia- these things happen, and diseases have ben building resitance to biotics for some time. I doubt it it terrorism.

It's influenza, aka the flu. It's a ridiculously resilient and adaptable virus, and we're just seeing a new outbreak of it. People who tend to over-medicate and have weak immune systems are probably most at risk, since the best defense against viral infections is a strong natural immune system.

Stormbringer wrote:

fgalkin wrote:http://www.msnbc.com/news/885653.asp

So, what do you think? Is it bioterrorism?

Some new disease probably just decided to stop on in. Most likely it's something that finally made the jump to humans and we're noticing it now for the first time.

I doubt it's bioterrorism. It's just a new disease.

Yet another reason why creationsism is wrong.

As for the disease, that shit is really scary. It's being spread by plane, which means that we might have a pandemic on our hands, before we can come up with a way to counteract it.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

People should go see a doctor before going to or coming back from every country in the world.

Darth Wong wrote:It's influenza, aka the flu. It's a ridiculously resilient and adaptable virus, and we're just seeing a new outbreak of it. People who tend to over-medicate and have weak immune systems are probably most at risk, since the best defense against viral infections is a strong natural immune system.

It is most likely some form of flu. That's troublesome, the worse virus ever was the Spanish Flu. I'd hate to think what something like that would do in our day and age. Scary shit man.

Stormbringer wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:It's influenza, aka the flu. It's a ridiculously resilient and adaptable virus, and we're just seeing a new outbreak of it. People who tend to over-medicate and have weak immune systems are probably most at risk, since the best defense against viral infections is a strong natural immune system.

It is most likely some form of flu. That's troublesome, the worse virus ever was the Spanish Flu. I'd hate to think what something like that would do in our day and age. Scary shit man.

Yes, and I happen to live in NYC.
Scary.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Maybe it is the Spanish Flu. Who knows? The CDC will find out when it finds out, and until then take the usual percautions. The lifestyle which makes one less likely to die from coming down with a serious viral infection cannot be changed overnight - Though one ought be advised to start.

Golly, I'm terrified.



Not.

Howedar wrote:Golly, I'm terrified.



Not.

If it's Spanish Flu or really any nasty flu you should be.

I'm not old, I'm not frail. Chances are I'll be fine.

You guys think it's scary?! Try being in the center of it! Have you guys read how fast it spreads?? Something like 40 people admitted overnight on Saturday or Sunday, don't know which. More links here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2849703.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2851487.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2854281.stm
RTHK has some good audio reports here: http://www.rthk.org.hk/

Howedar wrote:I'm not old, I'm not frail. Chances are I'll be fine.

Actually, the more virulent forms of flu can sicken badly or even kill healthy people just fine. Spanish flu was the worst plague ever, it killed a lot of people, healthy and otherwise.

Darth Wong wrote:It's influenza, aka the flu. It's a ridiculously resilient and adaptable virus, and we're just seeing a new outbreak of it. People who tend to over-medicate and have weak immune systems are probably most at risk, since the best defense against viral infections is a strong natural immune system.

It's Captain Trips! The SuperFlu! Randall Flagg is roaming the Southwest in his old dusty boots!

(Before you say WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot?, have you read The Stand by Stephen King?)

A bout of a particularly deadly influenza virus can cure just about anyone of his delusions of invincibility.

Gas mask sales should counteract the fall in shares.

fgalkin wrote:
So, what do you think? Is it bioterrorism?

i think its quite funny that the world has become so paranoid by terrorism and war etc that everyone now automatically assumes it to be the worst thing caused by some dude with a long beard in a far off country

In 1917, as WW1 raged across Europe killing some 3 million men (please correct me if I'm wrong?), a flu epidemic swept the world killing some 16 million. This can be evil shit; make no doubt about it.

Seriously folks, if this is another full-blown flu epidemic, then any one of us could be killed. Do not foolishly assume you are immune just because you're not old and frail. Things like this are why we have sayings like "seize the moment" and "live for today".

World War I's total death toll was about 20 million - That during the period 1914-1918, with 8.5 million military deaths and 11.5 million civilian deaths. The Spanish Flu killed an additional 22 million people worldwide in 1918-1919, roughly. These counts ignore the Russian Civil War and the Armenian Genocide.

Maybe 3 million people were killed in 1917 alone during WWI.

Basically: The Spanish Flu was more lethal than WWI, and in about a third of the time.

Darth Wong wrote:Seriously folks, if this is another full-blown flu epidemic, then any one of us could be killed. Do not foolishly assume you are immune just because you're not old and frail. Things like this are why we have sayings like "seize the moment" and "live for today".

The death tolls were relatively light in the first influenza epidemic in western countries that weren't directly involved in the War (IE: fighting on their territory, destruction of infrastructure, etc) - Relatively meaning tens of thousands, of course - but that was before the airplane. Conversely, of course, medical science has advanced considerably, too. We'll have to wait and see.

Fun Spanish Flu fact- no one knows why it ended when it did. Or even what the shit was, exactly.
Well, my imune system is so uber-mighty it fried my pancreas, so a little virus doesn't scare me at all. *cough, cough*

Has already been discussed here: http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=15120

and

here: http://kier.3dfrontier.com/forums/showt ... adid=46340

Like has been said, it's no bioterrorist concoction or plague from God, it is the Flu. A disease which will seemingly never bugger off for more than a few months or years before a newer, improved version appears and wreaks havoc.

This is strain H5N1, last appeared in 1997 in Hong Kong, 18 infected, 6 dead.

For the record, strain H1N1, or the infamous Spanish Flu which killed ovr 20M people in 1918-19, has appeared a couple of times in the past 50 years.

In 1976 it was discovered in New Jersey in a young army recruit, this produces an outbreak of paranoia first since this was the same thing that made our "Great War" look pitifully tame. A large immunization programme starts but this leads to many getting Guillain-Barre syndrome (an ascending paralysis of the CNS). Out of 100,000 people infected, only 5 percent die according to official statistics.

In 1977 it reappeared once more in Russia but disappeared without a trace, no doubt most humans had adapted fully by now for it to become useless.

The last great Influenza outbreak was in 1968 so your parents may be able to recall it. This was the Hong Kong flu epidemic which soon turned pandemic and claimed 100,000 lives, 34,000 in the US alone, this was strain H3N2.

The only viruses to really rival the Flu in terms of overall pathogenicity are Smallpox and HIV, the latter being the bigger and better brother of Flu with a mortality rate of 100%.