DEMON IN THE FREEZER - a FReeper must-read [new book by Richard Preston on bioweapons]

Amazon - Demon in the Freezer ^

[Chancellor Palpatine]

On December 9, 1979, smallpox, the most deadly human virus, ceased to exist in nature. After eradication, it was confined to freezers located in just two places on earth: the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the Maximum Containment Laboratory in Siberia. But these final samples were not destroyed at that time, and now secret stockpiles of smallpox surely exist. For example, since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the subsequent end of its biological weapons program, a sizeable amount of the former Soviet Union's smallpox stockpile remains unaccounted for, leading to fears that the virus has fallen into the hands of nations or terrorist groups willing to use it as a weapon. Scarier yet, some may even be trying to develop a strain that is resistant to vaccines. This disturbing reality is the focus of this fascinating, terrifying, and important book.

A longtime contributor to The New Yorker and author of the bestseller The Hot Zone, Preston is a skillful journalist whose work flows like a science fiction thriller. Based on extensive interviews with smallpox experts, health workers, and members of the U.S. intelligence community, The Demon in the Freezer details the history and behavior of the virus and how it was eventually isolated and eradicated by the heroic individuals of the World Health Organization.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

This is the best non-fiction book I've read in a long time.

The really interesting part is when he talks about Iraqi smallpox research facilities, and how the French blocked a move to destroy it in 1995 because the French built it, and didn't want to have their other commercial interests there affected.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

ping

[Snowy]

I already read it. It's a great book. You will lose sleep though...

[Catspaw]

I'm going to check with our library. If they don't have it, I'll ask them to order it.

I know the living daylights are going to be scared out of me.

[yendu bwam]

People are naive if they think that being hit with smallpox in the US is not a distinct possibility.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I can't think of a more indiscriminate way to kill noncombatants.

What was that line that came up during the Chen segment on anthrax? "You can heat up a bug for less money than it costs to buy a used car", or something to that effect.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You won't sleep the night after you finish it.

[68skylark]

This may sound unlikely to some of you, but there is a way that individual computer users can use their PC's to assist with smallpox defense research.

There's a thread with more information here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/836606/posts

There's still more information here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/838136/posts

I've been participating in this program for about a week now, and it's been going very smoothly.

[Snowy]

How about the part where that scientist had a 1 gallon can of a simulated bug on top of a windy hill, and he said the wind could blow that stuff 50 miles or more over a city infecting thousands of people along that way?!?!!??!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

There are dozens of tons of it floating around from Russia's old Biopreparat and Vector works, and nobody knows where it all went, or how many tiny, drop sized samples were drawn off and sold.

The really awful part is how effectively lethal normal smallpox is, how insidiously it spreads through an environment, and how vulnerable the populace would be to a weaponized, super strain.

[airedale]

I read the book by the author of the Hot Zone as well. The Demon in the Freezer is written with the same intensity as the Hot Zone. You're correct it is an excellent read. I've read other books on smallpox like Scourge and both contain the same basic information. What The Demon in the Freezer does is give you a graphic description of the disease which most of us have never seen.

This book is very descriptive and emotionally hot. If you want a lower key book on the subject Scourge is excellent. However, I'd recommend reading Demon in the Freezer as a first choice. Unless you have at least some idea of how awful this disease is you may tend to give it a ho hum it’s not going to get me.

It’s scary how easily this disease passes in an unprotected population. When it hit the New World it basically reduced over a period of years the population by close to 90% and our cures and treatments really aren’t any better than they were then for this disease. The whole world which used to have a large portion of the population that was immune to the disease because of prior exposure is now in the position that the natives of the New World found themselves but our population densities are much much higher. If it gets loose again it will spread like wildfire world wide and it will take years to stop it along with years of major financial and cultural disruption.

The third world and developing world will probably be hit the hardest since they have no real way of even starting and running a vaccination program. At least the countries in the West have the vaccine that should work provided it’s not a genetically engineered version that gets loose. In the first world we’ll loose a lot of people because of the time it will take to get things organized and people vaccinated. No matter how efficient it takes a heck of a long time to vaccinate 280 million people.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Oh, neat! I've been doing SETI online for a couple of years now with no problems, but his sounds a lot more necessary. I'll make the switch today.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

I had been incredibly gripped by "The Hot Zone", and couldn't resist picking up this one.

I liked how he repeatedly emphasized that our only current means of fighting it is with a vaccination that was basically developed in the late 1700s, and which probably would have little effect on weaponized, enhanced smallpox.

And to think, this is the sort of weapons development that the europeans and the peaceniks want to develop unchecked.

[the_doc]

I don't think we will ever need to vaccinate every single person in our population. There is a point at which the percentage of vaccinated individuals would be enough to stop the disease through careful diagnosis and quarantine measures.

And we are better at these things than we used to be. (We will take a few really bad hits early on if the terrorists unleash smallpox. But doctors--and laymen, for that matter--will quickly start recognizing smallpox if and when it strikes.)

I haven't seen the CDC models for smallpox, but I assure you that the above phenomenon is considered in it.

(BTW, there are much worse diseases than smallbox. Diseases like the hemorrhagic fever of Ebola virus are the ones which we aren't very well prepared for.)

[Cachelot]

and which probably would have little effect on weaponized, enhanced smallpox

The Russians had an accident. It worked even against "immunized" Russian personnel.

[Poohbah]

(BTW, there are much worse diseases than smallbox. Diseases like the hemorrhagic fever of Ebola virus are the ones which we aren't very well prepared for.)

Ebola is pretty fragile AND it proceeds too damn fast for it to spread well. If I were a biowar guy, I'd use the hype of Ebola more than the actual bug.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The methods he cites to address limited outbreaks - basically quarantine and ring vaccinations - are pretty effective. I could see how overwhelming a massive dispersement could be for the entire health care system.

In a wide enough infection, most urban activity (and by extension, the economy) would shut down for weeks, bringing about a monstrous economic dislocation thatwould be persistent and ravaging, even beyond the loss of life. People would be afraid to leave their homes or work with others. The likely result would be a depression that would make that of the 30s look like a mild recession.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

One scientist said he'd mix anthrax and smallpox to do the most damage.

[CholeraJoe]

One scientist said he'd mix anthrax and smallpox to do the most damage.

Add ebola to that mix and sprinkle a little botulinum in the reserviors and you've got a holocaust.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

Another good book on the subject is "The Coming Plague",by Laurie Garret. It has a textbook quality to it and some liberal finger pointing,but, still very sobering. Richard Preston's brother,Douglas Preston, is the co author,with Lincoln Child of Relic,Reliquary,Riptide- talented family.