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To: weshess
"Science has never cured a virus. We can only suppress the symptoms. In the end the virus always finds a way to survive."

Did we not wipe out the smallpox virus? It was never cured as such (no way to cure it once a person had it), but it was wiped out entirely by worldwide vaccination, wasn't it?

86 posted on 02/11/2005 6:07:43 PM PST by Irene Adler
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To: Irene Adler

Then why is it considered a biological weapon if it is wiped out?


94 posted on 02/11/2005 8:57:19 PM PST by weshess (I will eat tofu when it is made of MEAT!)
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To: Irene Adler
Did we not wipe out the smallpox virus?

That is a common misconception. Smallpox, like strep, is a bacillus (bacteria), and not a virus. Two completely different unicellular organisms. Bacilli are far more complex than virii, and less prone to rapid mutation. It was this characteristic of bacilli which enabled smallpox to be largely eradicated from the list of deadly diseases which have plagued mankind since time remorial. Virii, on the other hand, have never been sucessfully countered by any method at our current disposal...

the infowarrior

104 posted on 02/12/2005 1:38:52 AM PST by infowarrior (TANSTAAFL)
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