The Magician's Tower

*knock knock*

Anybody still here? What's everybody's take on ebola? Is this the end of humanity as we know it? Has mother earth decided that since we suck so bad it's time for our tenure on this planet to cease? or are the "news" outlets simply running their typical scare tactics to sell a story and generate page hits?

Could this also be a government power grab to force people to give up their liberties (OMG, put them in an ebola camp) for safety (if they're in a camp they can't infect others)?

Is ebola the next thing for big pharm's to make a fortune from on long term treatment but not find a vaccine or cure?

Mostly scare tactics. The virus has a moderately high ability to make you sick if you actually get it in you, but it is rather difficult to actually spread the virus.

Ebola has been safely contained to date because it is hard to transmit. The problem is that every time a person catches the virus, it has the chance to mutate into an air born version. Now that more people have been infected than in the history of the plague, those chances have grown at an exponential rate. that sucker goes air born and it is all over

Danille wrote:Ebola has been safely contained to date because it is hard to transmit. The problem is that every time a person catches the virus, it has the chance to mutate into an air born version. Now that more people have been infected than in the history of the plague, those chances have grown at an exponential rate. that sucker goes air born and it is all over

This!!!

Danille wrote:Ebola has been safely contained to date because it is hard to transmit. The problem is that every time a person catches the virus, it has the chance to mutate into an air born version. Now that more people have been infected than in the history of the plague, those chances have grown at an exponential rate. that sucker goes air born and it is all over

Ebola is a poor candidate for natural mutation as it kills too fast. Infectious people are quickly incapacitated, which is good, as that makes it hard to use as a weapon. On the other hand, you can bet a lot of nations now have samples they can try and mutate. China and Cuba are both treating lots of patients in Africa but they likely had previous access.

Mutation is evolution. Thousands have survived ebola and have short term immunity. 'Our' exposure increases our chances of evolving natural defenses. People that are treated are infectious for a shorter time, too, reducing the risk of a bad mutation.

This is an old topic and I would not have replied except there were recent headlines that researchers have discovered HIV is mutating in a positive direction. No pun intended.

As far as weaponizing diseases is concerned, in a globalized economy it is suicidal as a weapon of mass destruction. Far more likely diseases will be weaponized for personalized destruction.