Thursday, December 18, 2014

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?






Biological engineers at the Influenza Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have been able to reverse engineer the H1N1 flu virus back to the strain of Spanish Flu that in 1918 killed forty million people.   They have also been able to create the H5N1 strain of Swine Flu virus that in 2009 killed half a million people.  They have carried this one step further and mutated the Swine Flu virus to a form that totally eludes all human immune systems.
  
These viruses are maintained in special freezer units in a ‘secure’ facility that consist of concrete box within a concrete box, complete with air locks and high end security.   The people working at this facility, and experimenting on live animals with these deadly viruses, have all been cleared by extensive FBI security checks.  The Ebola virus along with other unknown pathogens are also stored there.

About one half of the scientific community have serious reservations about developing and maintaining deadly viruses that could pose a threat of a worldwide pandemic.

The scientist at this facility, however, claim that the human race has probably already developed immunity to the Spanish Flu and Swine Flu over the decades, and so the maintenance of these viruses pose only a small danger.  

However, they avoid comment about the mutated virus developed that is said to totally elude the human immune system.


 
So as not to be one sided, here is the link from the University of Wisconsin explaining their program for general consumption. 

Again: What could possibly go wrong?

the Ol'Buzzard







13 comments:

  1. Why after perusing your post am I suddenly feeling the urge to re-read The Stand?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just read the biography of the artist Egon Scheile....that's what did him in..back in 1918. Sometimes I suspect that someone might just be thinking that a nice controlled pandemic could be useful. I hope that this is not Monsanto's next business venture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think accidental release is a greater danger: Chaos theory - If something can go wrong it will

      Delete
  3. Darlin, I've worked in 3 labs over the years, 2 of which were high level where you had to go through background checks and clearances that would make your head spin. I'm no longer in the biz of viruses because that stuff scared me shitless. I went into working in a hospital lab because I thought I'd be safe. That's a load of bull.
    They say with all the safeguards and crap that nothing can go wrong. I have to say everything can go wrong and ultimately will if given a suitable opportunity. We are not as safe as we all would like to think. I've been shown that there are ways to break into and compromise a lab. I'd hate to be around if it ever really happens. Yes, they say, "What could possibly go wrong?" EVERYTHING CAN.

    ReplyDelete
  4. well like I always say...'we're so screwed.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps we should lie back and enjoy it before the climax.
      O'B

      Delete
  5. Maybe you should worry about what is breeding in my kitchen. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe you should worry about what is breeding in your kitchen.

      I keep trying, but my wife does not agree to breed in the kitchen - though we use to.
      O'B

      Delete
  6. Don't they have better things to do?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Having worked at the Centers for Disease Control, a place where supposedly all the safeguards were in effect and it keeps turning out that people were actually screwing up right and left, all I can say is that the good news is that a virus that is 100% fatal is actually the easiest kind to evade if you live sufficiently far away from the initial outbreak and have a good bunker to hide in. Once it's burned through its host population, it'll go extinct too. At least in theory. (And people wondered why when I retired from CDC we chose to return to the tundra and live in the middle of nowhere. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

COMMENT: Ben Franklin said, "I imagine a man must have a good deal of vanity who believes, and a good deal of boldness who affirms, that all doctrines he holds are true, and all he rejects are false."