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Lethal Virus from 1918 Genetically Reconstructed
The Sunshine Project ^
| 9 October 2003
Posted on 10/31/2003 12:10:53 PM PST by GluteusMax
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To: genefromjersey
It would not surprise me to learn they ( or some of their more ardent followers ) have been behind some of the "unusual incidents" in some of the biolabs.It would not surprise me if some lefty group with an enviromentalist bent purposely releashed something like this to "cleanse mother earth of evil humanity." Which is precisely why it is insanity to isolate the virulent elements of a dead strain of a virus we are now presumably immune to and attach it to a modern strain we are not immune to.
To: Lazamataz
"We actually ARE all gonna die." Yeah, but I wanna pony first!
22
posted on
10/31/2003 12:48:35 PM PST
by
Mad Dawgg
(French: old Europe word meaning surrender)
To: aristeides
Ping.
To: GluteusMax
This seems like one of those 'not good' ideas.
24
posted on
10/31/2003 12:50:16 PM PST
by
RightWhale
(Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
To: GluteusMax
But there is little need for antiviral drugs against the 1918 strain if the 1918 strain had not been recreated in the first place... The 1918 virus is already "out of the bottle." It wasn't recreated, it was found in in bodies in permafrost. And there is no reason on earth why it, or something like it, couldn't come back. And if it does, and we haven't done any research on it, what does the Sunshine Project propose to tell the survivors?
To: ModelBreaker
No kidding. This is insanity. I can't say that I agree. The quoted language--"It simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it"--is too cute. It assumes that noone else can accomplish the same thing as the researchers did. But if the researchers can do it, so can NK, China and Iran. Don't you think it would be a good idea to understand the genome of this killer for countermeasures?
I have no doubt a few of the more developed totalitarian regimes could duplicate this kind of research. However, unless a western nation supplied the tissue samples, i.e. knew precisely where to exhume a soldier buried in permafrost, I find it somewhat unlikely that North Korea would embark on finding 1918 flu to work with. Ebola or something equally heinous perhaps would be more readily exploited. The choice of weaponizing Spanish Flu just seems strange for "terrorists" but does sound more plausible for a Western government to choose. Not to deny the possibility that OBL or someone may not see the usefulness of weaponized 1918 flu, but we shouldn't do the groundwork for him.
To: All
Eventually a flu similar to the 1918 strain will appear again, that is a certainty. Knowing why the strain is so deadly may help fight it when it shows up, then again, I don't see why we wouldn't just develop a vaccine against it like we do for other flu.
What is really scary is that there were 2 efforts in the 90's of scientists trying to get samples of this virus from victims buried in permafrost. These yahoos were doing this with little protective equipment or containment facilites. Just a couple of scientists working alone. If they had found live virus they might have started another outbreak that could have killed millions.
27
posted on
10/31/2003 12:59:01 PM PST
by
BadAndy
To: grizzfan; CathyRyan; Mother Abigail; Dog Gone; Petronski; per loin; riri; flutters; Judith Anne; ...
I wonder how dangerous this strain is. Isn't it likely that current or recent strains of flu are related to it, so that most people have substantial immunity to it?
To: GluteusMax
But there is little need for antiviral drugs against the 1918 strain if the 1918 strain had not been recreated in the first place "It simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it."
No kidding. This is insanity.
Fine, but what if the Chinese or worse North Koreans reconstruct the 1918 virus? Plus we also have learned about another weapon, then we can create a vacination against it so only our enemy dies.
To: aristeides
Much of the research on the original flu points to it having jumped from swine, to birds, to humans. Sound familiar? (SARS) That's why this research is vital - it will happen again without man's intervention - this way we can be prepared.
30
posted on
10/31/2003 1:07:24 PM PST
by
11B3
(Use the Gitmo prisoners for bayonnet course target dummies.)
To: aristeides
There are 64 variants of the Orthomyxo virus that causes the flu. One variant causes the Spanish Flu. There is a phenomenon called the "Original Antigenic Sin" that means that your immunological system cannot tell the difference between small drifts of the viral antigen, meaning that if a person was first exposed to an orthomyxo, if it is close to another strain you produce antibody to the first one you were exposed. Now if there is a significant shift, antibody will not be formed to the strain anyway. One has a 1 in 64 chance of being immune to the strain that is currently being passed around. The vaccine is a prediction to the specific strain that is guessed to occur this year. In other words, fat chance to cross immunity.
To: RandallFlagg
PING!!!
32
posted on
10/31/2003 1:09:53 PM PST
by
11B3
(Use the Gitmo prisoners for bayonnet course target dummies.)
To: The_Victor
"Captain Trips"
To: GluteusMax
I don't understand why a western nation would have to supply a tissue sample. The Spanish Flu like most flu's went world wide. Even if not, I am sure there are some samples of this flu somewhere else in this world.
To: BadAndy
Pretty sure the virus was long dead. Can't die from or spread a dead virus. What they did was to take the DNA from the virus and create new virus from it.
Did you know you can clone a dead person? Creepy!
To: aristeides
I can understand the desire to study this bug from a public health point of view, but at the same time it is the perfect "poor man's nuke" and would arguably be devastating if released into the public once again.
To: GluteusMax
you are assuming that the muslims do not have
unofficial sponsorship from one of the bigger countries:
china, russia,...
china has always wanted to replace the US as the dominant
power, and they may succeed if we are always distracted
with the muslims.
Is it not ironic that we did the same thing to the
the Soviets in afghanistan and now it is happening to us.
37
posted on
10/31/2003 1:29:13 PM PST
by
vp_cal
To: bonesmccoy; David Hunter; Jim Noble
Ping!
38
posted on
10/31/2003 1:31:53 PM PST
by
Paleo Conservative
(Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
To: vp_cal
You make a good point. China would be the most likely suspect in supplying bioweapons. Unless we have specific intelligence that they are weaponizing 1918 flu however, why would be resurrecting it? Also, if we did have specific intelligence that 1918 was being weaponized for use against us, you and me would not be reading about our counter efforts. It would be conducted in DOD labs, not by some yahoos in the private sector. The whole thing seems odd.
To: Montfort
"...In short, there could be a very good reason for pursuing this line of research. "
And further who is to say that research on a killer flu like this would not provide knowledge to combat other such outbreaks, or similar things like SARS.
Sounds like more US military baiting to me.
40
posted on
10/31/2003 1:50:09 PM PST
by
battousai
(What's the only thing more irrelavent than a RAT presidential candidate?.....France of course.)
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