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To: FreedomFighter1013

Of course we should be concerned. I was merely pointing out that a random mutation does not have a 50% chance of making the disease more deadly to humans. I don’t know what the numbers are, but the chance is a great deal lower than that. The reason pandemics are rare is that only an occasional mutation is able to easily infect people.

Flu is a poor choice for a bio-weapon, since it mutates so readily. You could come up with a highly efficient killer and it promptly mutates to relative harmlessness when released.

An efficient bio-weapon would lock in the deadly characteristics. There are a great many other organisms that are more likely as a basis for such a weapon.


114 posted on 04/25/2009 8:16:45 AM PDT by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: Sherman Logan

But, because influenza is airborne it spreads more efficiently, i.e., it is highly contagious. Also, the terrorists (man-made disaster agents) could vaccinate their people before hand. Just thinking....


127 posted on 04/25/2009 8:27:58 AM PDT by FreedomFighter1013 (Obama is Weakening America for Partisan Gain: Change, Big-Time)
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