jonriv wrote:Many of those fun weapons grade bio stuff are on a lovely island off of long islands orient point. Plum island. Many may remember the reference in silence of the lambs
PR. I was the NBC officer in my Infantry Company. I agree- bio scared me the most
Ft McClellan AL...well Anniston Army Depot has been 'getting rid' of chemical agent munitions for years...controversy still rages about the toxicity of them and their disposal...very nasty stuff
As far as Ebola spreading...solely thru bodily fluids...HIV is passed the same way thru sexual behavior...HIV is not a hardy virus and wont survive outside body very long...and it did pretty well...still is in some demographics groups...HIV victims don't leak fluids 'from every orifice' like Ebola victims do...
Based on healthcare workers in Africa, who KNOW how to protect themselves who have contracted it and are dying/ will die...It doesn't seem real hard to catch...
If you take Ebola on a terrorist point of view...especially suicidal ones...Its a dandy...using Suicide bombers as a vector
(Don't worry I aint telling them anything they dont know)
Supposedly the Bubonic Plague was spread by rats...or more correctly fleas from rats but more modern studies are saying the rats *may* be off the hook...Bubonic plague kills rats quickly...Where were all these dead vector rats...and rats ...or more so their fleas aren't good vectors...
Excerpt from study...."Ebola's course of infection lasts around 37 days according to Dr. Duncan and Dr. Scott. This includes a 10 day incubation period followed by a 22 day infectious period whereby the person could be infectious but not exhibit symptoms. In the last five days the most gruesome symptoms appear in people. The 37-day estimate fits nicely with the 40-day quarantines carried out in Europe during the Black Death. Quarantine efforts in Europe were successful according to the two doctors. Sanctioning off infected families effectively "stopped the spread [of disease]. The 40-day period would have allowed for Ebola to run its course, eliminating the possibility of seemingly healthy people from infecting others during the initial 32-day period. Rats, on the other hand, would have ignored the quarantines. Thus, quarantines of plague victims could not have been as successful as an Ebola quarantine since rats are independent creatures; rats would have still been able to infect people despite a quarantine."
Source>http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/viruses101/could_the_black_death_actually
Am I going to go buy a Bio suit...no not yet...But just for shits and giggles...Imagine 1000 infected people spreading it, on purpose...leaving fluids on lets say bathroom doors, food utensils...especially at buffets...basically the same way influenza gets passed around...If nothing else...remember what kind of panic the anthrax scare caused in money and time?
Could it happen?...Dunno...You tell me...