Some Scientists Think SARS May Have Come from Outer Space

LONDON (Reuters) ^ | May 22, 2003 | Patricia Reaney

[AntiGuv]

Oh, I didn't consider the possibility of terrorism.. Hmmm.. Yes, that's much more plausible than a national military experimenting with a coronavirus. In the event, then it's doubtful in the extreme that they could also have developed a vaccine, since coronaviridae mutate so rapidly and major pharmaceutical firms have been unable to crack the problem.

One question: why do you suppose terrorists would've released such a thing in China of all places??

[Betty Jo]

Perhaps the Doc who thinks that SARS is from space is telling us that there were some other animal "covert experiments" along for the ride, and that they too survived, with maybe some additional goodies.

And maybe,just maybe,these additional goodies are the little critters we call SARS.

[aristeides]

SARS 'came from space' .

[Consort]

I would say, because the Chinese have no...

It didn't have to be the Chinese. It could have been done on purpose by anyone who developed SARS or by anyone who was supplied with SARS or by anyone (e.g., an employee) who stole it from the developer or from someone else who had possession of it. All possibilities should be considered.

[Betty Jo]

So everyone would say it cane from the dirty pigs and ducks and chickens and exotic animal chefs, and dirty sewers and.....

[TaxRelief]

So, if the worms survived, maybe something else (smaller), that we were working on, survived....

[_Jim]

I think "it" came from a bio-weapons research facility somewhere, myself.

"Monkeys made it - in Guongdong province (so I'm told by my primate friends still in-the-know still and still 'with the company')"

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

[Diddle E. Squat]

Sheila Jackson Lee bump

[TaxRelief]

Why? does it always come back to fecal matter?

[#3Fan]

I agree - all I'm saying is that it sounds as if she may be sarcastic (with understatement).. I dunno, it can be as hard to read sarcasm in newsprint as it is on the Internet..

Yeah, it's bad when someone is being sarcastic here on FR but it's not obvious and they don't tell anyone and then there's a 20 post exchange on whether the person was being sarcastic or not. Dyoh!

[Betty Jo]

Are your primate friends those 50 monkeys with 50 typewriters busy pecking away? Let me know when they publish.

[_Jim]

"The virus is unexpectedly novel and appeared without warning in mainland China,"

I've got it - I'VE GOT IT - THIS *WAS* introduced into 'outer space' as a preemptive move by Chinese rockets in an attempt to sabotage US and Soviet efforts to dominate space ... it was either that or the 2nd stringers over there in the Communist Politburo running the bioweapons program LEAPT upon the idea of propagating this disease using high-altitude balloons - AND IT BACKFIRED!

The air current s weren't right - the jet-stream (oven) currents weren't right (they called for 240 VAC 50 Hz and they supplied US current at 117VAC 60 Hz) and they ended up infecting their own countrymen (and women - does SARS affect women?) ...

[_Jim]

You're no fun - you're a party pooper!

(So 'poop' somewhere else!)

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"So I wrote the fictional story after reading it, off the premise that we were engineered."

You have company. Zecharia Sitchin, for example.

[Betty Jo]

Ahh, are you not in the know about the Amoy Apartments and the leaky pipes?And the flu is always from China and the dirty pigs and the dirty ducks and the.....

[ladyinred]

Enjoyed your story! Have you been published?

[_Jim]

It could have been done on purpose by anyone who developed SARS

The NEXT big outbreak - canned SARS by Del Monte, after that it will be Frozen Desert SARS by Marie Calendar, just in time for Thanksgiving we'll have Gently smoked Honey-SARS and over Christmas everone can enjoy Fruitcake SARS and merrily and promptly forward that on to someone they 'care' for ...

[_Jim]

too crude

Additional from the darkside we have "It's not like the ride back was anything to get broken up about" or "breaking up is hard to do ..." ...

[_Jim]

too crude

Additional from the darkside we have "It's not like the ride back was anything to get broken up about" or "breaking up is hard to do ..." ...