Slightly in Shock

[Guido Finucci]

And if AIDS suddenly became airborne, we're all gone.  Bai-bai, humanity.  Nice knowing you.  Don't forget to writ-  Oh, wait, you're all dead.

Did you miss the memo that pointed out that about 10% of Europe is immune to AIDS, even when exposed repeatedly to HIV?

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

And if AIDS suddenly became airborne, we're all gone.  Bai-bai, humanity.  Nice knowing you.  Don't forget to writ-  Oh, wait, you're all dead.

Did you miss the memo that pointed out that about 10% of Europe is immune to AIDS, even when exposed repeatedly to HIV?

Yep. ANd I think GTL should have also read my post about plagues not actually killing off entire species of victims. It serves the virus/prion/bacteria no purpose to destroy any future hope of carriers/hosts because that would mean evolutionary dead end. Generally plagues soften up as the years wear on and the hosts' bodies begin to adapt.

[/o\]

Yep. ANd I think GTL should have also read my post about plagues not actually killing off entire species of victims. It serves the virus/prion/bacteria no purpose to destroy any future hope of carriers/hosts because that would mean evolutionary dead end. Generally plagues soften up as the years wear on and the hosts' bodies begin to adapt.

yeah tell the human plague that.  

Also the op should consider masking his discordian sainthood more.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Yep. ANd I think GTL should have also read my post about plagues not actually killing off entire species of victims. It serves the virus/prion/bacteria no purpose to destroy any future hope of carriers/hosts because that would mean evolutionary dead end. Generally plagues soften up as the years wear on and the hosts' bodies begin to adapt.

yeah tell the human plague that.  

Also the op should consider masking his discordian sainthood more.

Even the human plague won't be able to kill off its host, the Earth. We'll certainly be able to kill ourselves off, but Earth. There's just too much shit going on.

[Great Teacher Largo]

And if AIDS suddenly became airborne, we're all gone.  Bai-bai, humanity.  Nice knowing you.  Don't forget to writ-  Oh, wait, you're all dead.

Did you miss the memo that pointed out that about 10% of Europe is immune to AIDS, even when exposed repeatedly to HIV?

No human being is Immune to AIDS, and I dare you to show me a study published in a reputibalbe peer-review journal that says so.  Those people in question have a conferred genetic restiance to AIDS, much in the manner that I have a genetic resistance to malaria.  However, I can still catch malaria.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

And if AIDS suddenly became airborne, we're all gone.  Bai-bai, humanity.  Nice knowing you.  Don't forget to writ-  Oh, wait, you're all dead.

Did you miss the memo that pointed out that about 10% of Europe is immune to AIDS, even when exposed repeatedly to HIV?

No human being is Immune to AIDS, and I dare you to show me a study published in a reputibalbe peer-review journal that says so.  Those people in question have a conferred genetic restiance to AIDS, much in the manner that I have a genetic resistance to malaria.  However, I can still catch malaria.

Heh. You missed the fact that Guido said "immune." He didn't say "resistant." They are finding people with not only resistance but also immunity. Not only in Europe but also in Africa.

[Guido Finucci]

Those people in question have a conferred genetic restiance to AIDS...

Just before I launch into a screaming rant, could you clarify for me exactly how a genetic resistance that prevents a condition from occuring despite repeated exposure is different from an immunity? I want to put this in words that you have an outside chance of being able to understand.

[Great Teacher Largo]

And if AIDS suddenly became airborne, we're all gone.  Bai-bai, humanity.  Nice knowing you.  Don't forget to writ-  Oh, wait, you're all dead.

Did you miss the memo that pointed out that about 10% of Europe is immune to AIDS, even when exposed repeatedly to HIV?

Yep. ANd I think GTL should have also read my post about plagues not actually killing off entire species of victims. It serves the virus/prion/bacteria no purpose to destroy any future hope of carriers/hosts because that would mean evolutionary dead end. Generally plagues soften up as the years wear on and the hosts' bodies begin to adapt.

While it may not be in a parasites best interest to kill of its host, many things are simply too virulent for their own good, such as Ebola, and the disease that actually is responsible for the Black Death.  If there was such a thing as an Ebola cold, we'd all die.  Every single last one of us, except maybe some people down at Antarctica.  Ebola Reston had a 100% fatality rate among the monkies it inhabits, and guess what:  It's shown up since then in other monkey populations.  Ebola and its sister viruses, the filoviridiae, are horribly lethal in humans and monkeys.  The solution to the problem is, we are not the intended hosts for the virus.  There is some natural resivour of the disease, and when it gets into us it goes crazy and turns pretty much all of the host into virus.  Ebola is one of the most hauntingly beatiful things in the world.

There are diseases that are so horribly potent that they could kill off all of the possible hosts.  We've made them in labratories (but good luck getting the government to admit to it -- any government, take your pick) and they do exist naturally.  The ones that exist naturally all live in something else, mostly benignly.  Take stapholocacus, for example.  It causes pimples and boils, but it can kill when it gets to the wrong part of the body.

If Ebola Reston (which does infect humans -- four people who were exposed to it eventually contracted the virus) killed us the same way it kills monkeys, I have no doubt there would not be a man, woman or child left alive on the planet right now (save those fuckers down in Antarctica.  Fuckers.)  Organisms don't always do what's best for them in the long term.  It's called natural selection.  Antelopes don't try to run faster than a cheetah.  They just try to run faster than the other antelopes.  A virus that is so virulent and potent that it kills all of its hosts and spreads like crazy to a new host is doing remarkably well -- horribly well, in fact -- until it kills the last host.  It sacrafices long term beneft for short term gain, like many other creatures.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I didn't say anything about natural selection now did I?

And as far as organisms go, i wasn't being that specific. It's kind of hard to be specific when you are talking about life-forms that aren't individuated. I was speaking in general terms about broad sweeps of pathology and epidemiology...or whatever the fuck that word is. It's late.

Study plagues sometime.

[Great Teacher Largo]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I was going to actually read your entire post and reply to it, but after I read that I realised you didn't really have a clue about what you're talking about.  Ebola is not hype and myth.  Ebola is one of the most dangerous things the human race has ever encountered.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I was going to actually read your entire post and reply to it, but after I read that I realised you didn't really have a clue about what you're talking about.  Ebola is not hype and myth.  Ebola is one of the most dangerous things the human race has ever encountered.

Ah, no it's not. What rags are you reading? Where are you getting your info from? Ebola is more hype than anything else. There have been a few cases here and there...some mini-outbreaks...no real plague or epidemic. Ebola is also getting tamed down as time passes. Perhaps you should read up on your science.

[Great Teacher Largo]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I was going to actually read your entire post and reply to it, but after I read that I realised you didn't really have a clue about what you're talking about.  Ebola is not hype and myth.  Ebola is one of the most dangerous things the human race has ever encountered.

Ah, no it's not. What rags are you reading? Where are you getting your info from? Ebola is more hype than anything else. There have been a few cases here and there...some mini-outbreaks...no real plague or epidemic. Ebola is also getting tamed down as time passes. Perhaps you should read up on your science.

I read the CDC and WHO information on the stuff.  And its not getting 'tamed down.'  That's like saying the British were lowering their crime rates by shipping all the criminals off to Australia.  They're treating the symptom, not the cause.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I was going to actually read your entire post and reply to it, but after I read that I realised you didn't really have a clue about what you're talking about.  Ebola is not hype and myth.  Ebola is one of the most dangerous things the human race has ever encountered.

Ah, no it's not. What rags are you reading? Where are you getting your info from? Ebola is more hype than anything else. There have been a few cases here and there...some mini-outbreaks...no real plague or epidemic. Ebola is also getting tamed down as time passes. Perhaps you should read up on your science.

I read the CDC and WHO information on the stuff.  And its not getting 'tamed down.'  That's like saying the British were lowering their crime rates by shipping all the criminals off to Australia.  They're treating the symptom, not the cause.

Heh. CDC and WHO...where do you think they get their funding from?
If they didn't make people overly paranoid, they'd be up shit's creek without a paddle. They have to cater to media. Not exactly conducive to scientific study now is it? Seeking aid and delivering aid is a different business then research. Just saying. Read medical journals for the scoop on the poop.

[Great Teacher Largo]

Ebola= mostly media hype and myth.

I was going to actually read your entire post and reply to it, but after I read that I realised you didn't really have a clue about what you're talking about.  Ebola is not hype and myth.  Ebola is one of the most dangerous things the human race has ever encountered.

Ah, no it's not. What rags are you reading? Where are you getting your info from? Ebola is more hype than anything else. There have been a few cases here and there...some mini-outbreaks...no real plague or epidemic. Ebola is also getting tamed down as time passes. Perhaps you should read up on your science.

I read the CDC and WHO information on the stuff.  And its not getting 'tamed down.'  That's like saying the British were lowering their crime rates by shipping all the criminals off to Australia.  They're treating the symptom, not the cause.

Heh. CDC and WHO...where do you think they get their funding from?
If they didn't make people overly paranoid, they'd be up shit's creek without a paddle. They have to cater to media. Not exactly conducive to scientific study now is it? Seeking aid and delivering aid is a different business then research. Just saying. Read medical journals for the scoop on the poop.

I actually try to keep abreast of things involving ebola.  I was a volunteer for a project that was going to administer a possible ebola vaccine to human beings, and if I hadn't been in Florida and them in Mass, I'd have been in, as it had been a week since it was announced and I was the third person to want to take them up on it.  I would love to have antibodies to Ebola (any of them) in my immune system's arsenal.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Remember that at one time the flu was very deadly and scared people all the time...and that was because the flu actually had outbreaks and epidemics.

Ebola hasn't been very widespread. In fact, it's been disappointing.