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by noir_lord
4276 days ago
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> All it takes is one of those mutations to make the virus airborne, and we're in big trouble. Except that the mutation to go from a fluid to airborne virus isn't one mutation it's lots of mutations and that is simple not what we see happening in general. The common cold could mutate into a super deadly virus but it doesn't, Flu usually doesn't either but rarely does (you want to see a genuinely terrifying virus at work read the accounts of the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, that thing took down the young and strong in days). Containment is important to prevent the spread via fluid contact. This "if X then if Y then if C then if D then Global Collapse" scaremongering helps absolutely no one. |
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I've written a bit about infectious diseases but defer to virologists or other folks who are better informed. I do remember reading these two articles about airborne transmission of Ebola, which might be what the previous poster was thinking about:
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00... EBOV infection in swine affects mainly respiratory tract, implicating a potential for airborne transmission of ZEBOV2, 6. Contact exposure is considered to be the most important route of infection with EBOV in primates7, although there are reports suggesting or suspecting aerosol transmission of EBOV from NHP to NHP8, 9, 10, or in humans based on epidemiological observations11
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/opinion/what-were-afraid-t... If certain mutations occurred, it would mean that just breathing would put one at risk of contracting Ebola. Infections could spread quickly to every part of the globe, as the H1N1 influenza virus did in 2009, after its birth in Mexico. --Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota