[RANGERAIRBORNE]

By the way, I wonder what you and the author of the SLATE article would consider an "acceptable" casualty rate? What if only 10% of Americans died? How about only 5%- would that be OK? At what projected case fatality rate should everyone just relax? (A 1% rate would mean the deaths of almost three MILLION Americans...)

No- if this is ever used, it's pretty much certain that some countries are going to disappear rather suddenly. I don't think that rationality and SLATE articles will have much of a chance.

[TomB]

By the way, I wonder what you and the author of the SLATE article would consider an "acceptable" casualty rate? What if only 10% of Americans died? How about only 5%- would that be OK? At what projected case fatality rate should everyone just relax? (A 1% rate would mean the deaths of almost three MILLION Americans...)

You know, I have NO IDEA what you are taking about. If smallpox appears in the US, it is (another) act of war, and we should retaliate in kind (for weapon of mass destruction). Even if one person dies, it is still an attack, and should be treated as such. But that isn't what we are discussing in this thread. Why do you keep bringing it up?

I'm just tired of all the scare mongering going on around here lately, and I'm just trying to add some balance to the "we're all going to die" crap that some people are tying to spread.

There has been a lot of misinformation around here about smallpox, and it needs to be corrected.

If it makes you feel better to believe that smallpox, the ancient scourge of mankind, really isn't all THAT dangerous, then do so.

You know, garden variety infections were an "ancient scourge" also. That doesn't mean we are afraid of them now.