Ok, so the CDC has confirmed..and other things!

[Giovanni Maga]

In article <3p3s3u$45i at decaxp.harvard.edu>, lronthal at fas.harvard.edu (Lisa
Ronthal) wrote:

> I *really* hate to encourage paranoia and all that (not least because I'm 
> already plenty scared shitless, thank you very much), but given the high 
> mutability of Ebola, is this even possible? Or is it fishy? I mean, has the 
> CDC and the army and anyone else who had samples of E. Zaire '76 checked 
> their inventory and security lately? 
> 
> Just hoping to God that some nut/terrorist/cult didn't get ideas from the 
> last six months' spate of Ebola books, movies, etc. and do something 
> unbelievably stupid-clever... ?


I really hate paranoia. Due to the plenty of already available deadly
bacterial strains (Yersinia pestis, Clostridium botulinum etc.) already
thought to be used as bio-weapons and the relatively easy way they can be
cultured in enormous amounts, why these terrorists should care about Ebola
(which is not so easy to obtain and also to culture in high amounts)? This
is to say that Ebola is *not* the Armageddon, it's not the Final Weapon,
it's another nasty virus as many we already had to face in human history.
Any attempt to present it like something different simply gives a
distorpted view of the problem...and doesn't help who is trying seriously
to save many lives.
The risks we are exposed to due to terrorism (as well as to earthquakes,
cyclons, car accidents etc.) *are not* increased by Ebola.
maga at vetbio.unizh.ch