[ralfy]

"...leaps from animals to humans could devastate mankind in the next five years"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... years.html

[The Practician]

Yeah, could. Or ten years. or twenty five. It's pretty much inevitable that there is going to be a pandemic comparable to the flu of 1918 sometime, probably sooner rather than later, but I don't see the point in getting too worked up about it. It's not like there enough people on the planet.

[Ferretlover]

Almost anything is possible. If you want to leave the Matrix and find out just how vulnerable humans are to viruses, read The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett (Amazon, $12 & some change) that was suggested by ritter.
I was only through the first fourth and I was wishing it was FICTION! Well-written, a little over 700 pp, I'll write a review when I finish.

[ritter]

I was only through the first fourth and I was wishing it was FICTION!

Glad you're enjoying it. Sleep well!

[Lore]

Is this the same Daily Mail, that recently reported that the planet has not warmed in 16 years?

[ralfy]

The Coming Plague is a very good book! Well-documented, too, with discussions of Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Legionnaire's disease, etc.

[ralfy]

Yeah, could. Or ten years. or twenty five. It's pretty much inevitable that there is going to be a pandemic comparable to the flu of 1918 sometime, probably sooner rather than later, but I don't see the point in getting too worked up about it. It's not like there enough people on the planet.

Or five years. Unfortunately, the idea of uncertainty works both ways.

[Laromi]

"...leaps from animals to humans could devastate mankind in the next five years"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... years.html

Pure humbug, what is talked about here are diseases that have probably been about and remodeled for millenia. And certainly most vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes are not strangers to our environment.

Sars-like virus that had previously only been seen in bats

Lyssa virus, purportedly transmitted by bats, has been (recognised) in Australia for many years its of the genus Lyssavirus, rabies serogroup, and includes the classic rabies virus, Mokola virus, Duvenhage virus, Obodhiang virus, Kotonkan virus, Rochambeau virus, European bat Lyssavirus types 1 and 2, and Australian bat Lyssavirus, mostly all with a morbidity rate approaching 100%.

Then there's Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Fever Disease, an acute febrile illness caused by spirochetes of Borrelia burgdorferi which causes a relapsing fever, then wev'e had SARS, concerns of significant manifestations of HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) but it's not like they (De Bugs) are about to visit you, generally speaking, you must firstly put yourself at risk.

Doom and Gloom always sells. I think the above quoted piece of journalism is not really an exception.

[The Practician]

Yeah, could. Or ten years. or twenty five. It's pretty much inevitable that there is going to be a pandemic comparable to the flu of 1918 sometime, probably sooner rather than later, but I don't see the point in getting too worked up about it. It's not like there enough people on the planet.

Or five years. Unfortunately, the idea of uncertainty works both ways.

Yeah, sure, whatever. My point, which admittedly got a bit garbled when I accidentaly delteted the word "aren't" from "its not like there aren't enough people on the planet", is that there isn't any reason to get all worked up over it.

[Pretorian]

Yeah, could. Or ten years. or twenty five. It's pretty much inevitable that there is going to be a pandemic comparable to the flu of 1918 sometime, probably sooner rather than later, but I don't see the point in getting too worked up about it. It's not like there enough people on the planet.

What happened in 1918 ? Population stopped growing for a few months?

[ralfy]

Pure humbug, what is talked about here are diseases that have probably been about and remodeled for millenia. And certainly most vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes are not strangers to our environment.

Sars-like virus that had previously only been seen in bats

Lyssa virus, purportedly transmitted by bats, has been (recognised) in Australia for many years its of the genus Lyssavirus, rabies serogroup, and includes the classic rabies virus, Mokola virus, Duvenhage virus, Obodhiang virus, Kotonkan virus, Rochambeau virus, European bat Lyssavirus types 1 and 2, and Australian bat Lyssavirus, mostly all with a morbidity rate approaching 100%.

Then there's Lyme Disease or Rocky Mountain Fever Disease, an acute febrile illness caused by spirochetes of Borrelia burgdorferi which causes a relapsing fever, then wev'e had SARS, concerns of significant manifestations of HIV infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) but it's not like they (De Bugs) are about to visit you, generally speaking, you must firstly put yourself at risk.

Doom and Gloom always sells. I think the above quoted piece of journalism is not really an exception.

I don't think the intention is to show that this is a new problem.

[ralfy]

Yeah, sure, whatever. My point, which admittedly got a bit garbled when I accidentaly delteted the word "aren't" from "its not like there aren't enough people on the planet", is that there isn't any reason to get all worked up over it.

Are you implying that we shouldn't get "worked up over it" because when it takes place, there won't be too many people on the planet?