[M95D]

A completely "mirrored" organism is not that dangerous.

- It would still have antigenic properties, just not the ones we are familiar with, because antigens are proteins or proteins bound to sugars. Both have "left" vs "right" variants.

- It can't eat any ordinary food, except simple fats. Common proteins and sugars won't fit it's enzymes. That means it can't digest sugars, proteins or any combination that contains them. It also means it can't attack and decompose our tissues, so it would have no way to enter our bodies.

- With only simple lipids as food, it would need to take all Nitrogen from the atmosphere or inorganic compounds, which means it can't really be a pathogen for humans (or any animals) even if it could somehow enter our organisms. However, it could live on the soil and possibly be a plant pathogen.

- It's "mirrored" toxins won't have any effect on us. (But compounds that are normally benign possibly could be toxic if "mirrored" - I can't say for sure if it's possible.)

[foobiekr]

So much confidence about how this thing we’ve never encountered will not be a problem.

[slumpt_]

that’s fairly on brand for hackernews

doubly so if it’s from a person with no expertise in the relevant field

[M95D]

I studied microbiology and biochemistry and I work in a medical lab.

Let's agree that news and articles that are shocking, scary, but not likely to happen, aka. clickbait, are even more common than comments like mine.

[notfed]

Mirror organisms or not...we're doomed.