[Brian Kopp DPM]

I am not an infectious disease specialist. I am only a foot doctor. However, I know enough about transmission of disease to understand that if the terrorists have smallpox, we may be in the beginning stage of an attempt at causing a smallpox epidemic. What better route than by powdering (NOT injecting) Halloween candy with smallpox virus? It is a perfect example of asymmetrical warfare. Plus there are many unsubstantiated rumors about further attacks on Halloween.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Something to think about. I don't intend to scare or cause panic but given the evidence this is a possible scenario.

[Macaw]

Oh boy. I for one will not inspect my kids candy for anything. Eat up kid -- don't worry about the urban legends.

[Bommer]

Put down the crack pipe doc!

He's something to scare the sh!t out of you! Whats going to stop a terrorist with smallpox from spraying cans of juice or tomato paste while shopping? Or touching fresh fruit or vegetables! Scare you from eating yet? Get a life!

[Sabertooth]

Check these threads on

Suspicious Middle Eastern men
buying enormous quanities of candy

Not a hoax.

[TheDon]

Nothing like fomenting a little hysteria... Checking over the kid's candy and discarding certain items is something a responsible parent should always do. Worrying about terrorists infecting your kid's candy? I don't think so. Of course, a lot of people play the lotteries so I'm sure many will buy into the poisoned candy hysteria.

[Marylander]

Obviously the terrorists do not intend to hand out the candy at their own doors, so what is the plan? Return tainted packages to store shelves?

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

IMPORTANT PING


If you would like to be removed or added from my bump list please let me know.
If you were "bumped" on this ping, you are in my list already.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

IMPORTANT PING

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

IMPORTANT PING

[blam]

I live so far out in the boonies, no-one bothers to come out to my house trick-or-treating. So........ However, I do have one question, Can dogs, cats or birds spread small pox to humans? I have lots of birds around here.

[xm177e2]

No trick or treating for my kids this year.

Don't worry, if they DO release smallpox, your kids are as dead as everyone else's, whether they go trick-or-treating or not.

[G.Mason]

A coward dies many times.....A brave man only once.

It's fine to have a "relative" concern about your loved ones and your own safety but it seems to be getting ludicrous.

You and those that are trembling with fear here, need to lighten up.

Hell man....you could get run over by a car tomorrow.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

It should also be pointed out that every single child in this country is UNVACCINATED!!!!!

Most of us over 35 or so have been vaccinated, and while this was long enough ago that we might get sick, Smallpox would not kill us. The kids, on the other hand, are very vulnerable. Not only are they unvaccinated, but kids just seem to always be getting sick anyway. Since lots of kids don't have stay-at-home moms anymore, quite commonly kids won't be kept home from school for every little sniffle, so it is quite possible that not only could large numbers of kids become infected initially by tainted candy, but lots of them could be sent to school when they were just starting to come down with the earliest symptoms in the morning, and by afternoon they would be sick enough to have already infected the entire school.

How would they get the candy to the kids? Returning the tainted candy to the store shelves is one possibility. Leaving large wholesale boxes of candy at the front doors of schools in the early hours of 10/31, with a note stating that this is a gift from some local business could be another plausible strategy. Just driving by and tossing candy at groups of kids during the day and early evening would probably also work.

We are potentially looking at up to 30% mortality of the kids in whatever areas get hit. The mere thought of this is staggering. And what would be the consequences following the deaths of thousands, possibly many tens of thousands of children's deaths?

[stanleypie]

bump

[Junior]

Okay, so how does the logistics of this work? Infecting the candy wrappers is going to be hazardous work for the infectors, as is distributing the candy on Halloween night. Now, for your average martyr the idea of going out in a blaze of glory is quite appealing (and relatively painless). Dying in lingering agony from the affects of smallpox is something else entirely.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Dr. Brian - thanks for posting this invaluable information. My sisters are in the health-care profession and I read medical information all the time. This makes a WHOLE LOT OF SENSE to me, and I am now doing my best to pass along this information, including the Bergen County, NJ case/arrests, to those I know in law enforcement, local media and local health care.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Smallpox as a Biological Weapon - Medical and Public Health Management

All this and more from the Journal of the American Medical Association.

This article substantiates the strong possibility of smallpox as a biological weapon. I'm here to tell you I am scared sh!tless at the information discussed here regarding the vaccine situation and lack of available vaccines, therein! Dr. Brian, I am going to post this as its own separate thread.

[Clinton's a rapist]

Revenge for the "one million Iraqi children" bin Laden keeps blabbing on about?

[rwfromkansas]

Just what would they do w/the candy though? They can't give it out to half the nation's youth?

[rwfromkansas]

THEN AGAIN, IF they have smallpox, it might not take infecting many people to do the job of killing millions sooner or later, as evidenced by Project Darkness or whatevever it was called.