Posted on 04/11/2003 4:47:04 PM PDT by ex-Texan
Medical Experts Speak Out -- SARS Virus Could Be Man-Made and Possibly a Bio-Weapon
This was the breaking news late yesterday. News 24 was reporting that top Russian medical experts were lining up to express concern about the virus. A brief excerpt:
Nikolai Filatov, head of Moscow's epidemiological services, told the Gazeta daily that he thought the pneumonia was man-made because "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." * * *
The virus, according to academy of medecine member Sergei Kolesnikov, is a cocktail of mumps and measles, whose mix could never appear in nature. * * *
"We can only get that in a laboratory," he told a conference in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.
It may have spread because of an "accidental leak" from a lab, he added. * * *
Another top level Russian scientist expressed similar views today. Dr. Sergei Kolesnikov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences was quoted in En Rian.ru that he believed the virus if atypical pneumonia has been created artificially in a laboratory "possibly as a bacteriological weapon."
He stated his opinion in that regard in news conference in Irkutsk (Siberia) on Thursday.
* * * the virus of atypical pneumonia is a synthesis of two viruses (of measles and infectious parotiditis or mumps), the natural compound of which is impossible. This can be done only in a laboratory, the academician is convinced. He also said that in creating bacteriological weapons a protective anti-viral vaccine is, as a rule, worked out at the same time. Therefore, the scientist believes, a medicine for atypical pneumonia may soon appear. He does not exclude that the spread of the virus could have begun accidentally, as a result of "an unsanctioned leakage" from a laboratory. * * *
Dr. Kolesnikov is a famous scientist with international standing. He served as a former co-President of the IPPNW and as member of the Russian Duma. He has published many international scientific papers. A brief biography may be found here.
ABC News.au had a nearly identical report up on its web site today. They are reporting that the SARS "Mystery Virus" may well be a Chinese bio-weapon that accidently escaped the laboratory.
NewsPundit is following the lead of the Russians:
I have been biting my tongue for the last week and trying to quiet the bio-weapon rumors that have been floating around. But now I believe the "cat has been let out of the bag." All of the evidence is pointing to a man-made virus. Russian medical science may be years ahead of the U.S., U.K. in its experience with such things. So I reluctantly follow their lead.
The Chinese have a lot of explaining to do. The virus is now "out there" . . . just like the "Truth is Out There ...." One thing they can explain: Was this a test of the World Heath Organization, or how quickly the U.S. is capable of reacting to a bio-weapon ?
(Excerpt) Read more at newspundit.net ...
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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.
It is a very serious infection for those over 40.
This one is more lethal than any in years, but still less than 5% lethality.
That is way too low for a bioweapon.
So9
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.
But why in Hong Kong?
"there is no vaccine for this virus"
I am under the impression that there is no vaccine for any virus.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Yeah, that is what I was thinking.
Thanks, guys, that's a relief.
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