Word: viruses
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...eradication of smallpox was one of humanity's great success stories. After thousands of years of suffering at the hands of the virus, the human race gathered all its wit and cunning and conquered the scourge, eradicating it forever. Well, forever lasted less than 25 years. It does not bode well for the future of our species that it took but a blink of the eye for one of history's worst killers to make a comeback--not on its own, mind you, but brought back by humans to kill again...
...danger is greater now than ever--first, and ironically, because of our very success in eradicating it in the past. People today have almost no experience with, and therefore no immunity to, the virus. We are nearly as virgin a population as the Native Americans who were wiped out by the various deadly pathogens brought over by Europeans. Not content with that potential for mass murder, however, today's bad guys are reportedly trying to genetically manipulate the virus to make it even deadlier and more resistant to treatment. Who knows what monstrosities the monsters are brewing in their secret...
...year, the Administration's chief smallpox adviser. Henderson believes a smallpox outbreak in the U.S. would actually be "very controllable." The strategy he used in the 1960s and '70s was to vaccinate only infected patients and people in contact with those patients, moving outward in concentric circles until the virus stopped spreading. If it's any comfort to procrastinators, the smallpox vaccine will still protect you against the disease after you've been infected--as long as you get your shot within two or three days. That's assuming you can find one in the middle of a smallpox attack...
...tricky issue because this particular vaccine is one of medicine's most dangerous. It doesn't contain the smallpox virus, but it does use a live version of a related one, called vaccinia, that can make you sick and, in rare instances, kill you. Most people just get a blister at the injection site and maybe some swelling of the arm. Others will feel tired or develop a low-grade fever; about a third will feel ill enough to miss work or school. Out of 1 million people, between 15 and 60 will develop serious complications, including encephalitis (swelling...
...Omen Birds may be able to carry and spread the deadly Ebola virus, according to U.S. researchers. The virus, which kills 70% of those afflicted, was found to have a similar protein structure to viruses carried by birds