The Ebola virus - the end of the civilize

[Steven Poet]

WE are flying in airplanes.

hiro at mill2.millcomm.com (Hiro) wrote:

> I think that this may be a simplification of the matter.  I think 
> that the truth is rather more disturbing.  It seems to me that both
> of these diseases are symptomatic of some aspect of human behaviour.
> Not a new thought by any means, but any efforts we spend treating these
> specific diseases are treating the symptoms, not the underlying 
> problem.  Why did AIDS come out of obscurity and start spreading like
> wildfire?  Why are there suddenly all these hemorrhagic fevers of 
> different genetic description (Junin, Ebola)?  Marburg and Ebola are
> similar enough (both are filoviruses) but the others are not filoviruses,
> and I wonder what human behaviours exist that would favor the emergence
> of diseases of this sort.  
> 
> What are WE doing?  What behaviours exist in our lifestyles that would
> contribute to the spread of new infectious agents?