Ebola virus outbreak in Africa

[Soderlund J Marcus]

Kevin P. Schifferli (kevins at planetcom.com) wrote:
: Actually I think the most dangerous disease known to man is Lassa
: Fever

IMHO pondering what virus is "most dangerous" or whatever doesn't really 
make any sense unless you're into BCW, in which case the most dangerous 
virus is the one that you or your colleagues are trying to develop. A 
gentically engineered endotoxic reverse transcriptose DNA virus would be 
my current "favorite" for an Andromeda virus. The technology in biotech 
will very likely make your worst nightmares possible in just a few years 
from now if it indeed has not yet been perfected. But as of now, BW bugs 
aside, I'd say that we haven't yet hit (or found) the Big One. As to the 
known viruses, what constitutes "most dangerous" can be defined in many 
different ways. Is the one that is most contageous, most common, the one 
with highest mortality when left untreated, one with no vaccines or 
cures, one with high mutagenity, one that kills quickest, or some other 
designation? In the USA, AIDS probably kills the most people (just a 
guess; I don't have statistics although very recent ones are available 
through CDC or WHO) and is 100% fatal, but not very contagious except 
through "certain kinds of activities" as one health expert so aptly put it.
Lassa is not quite as fatal as Ebola (especially Ebola Zaire ['76] -- the 
current strain or one very similiar to it), with "only" ~50% mortality, 
and to the best of my knowledge is not found on US soil except in "hot 
suites" (IV labs). You should be more concerned with Hantaan, especially 
the Baltimore strain.
Summa summarum, IMHO the "most dangerous disease" to man is one that we 
ourselves will develop or dig out from the bush. Just an opinion.

Marcus.