The Deadliest Virus And Out Of The Wild

I recently read an article written in The NEWYORKER called The Deadliest Virus by Michael Specter. The article talked about the Avian Flu virus, also known as “bird flu”. In the article, Specter interviewed many people, but the most important person, in my opinion, is a virologist who conducted research on the Avian Flu, Ron Fouchier. This article raised many ethical questions. The questions are as followed: Should research be conducted on this virus? Does Fouchier’s research pose a threat? Does the risk of the work outweigh the benefits of the research?

The United states faced one of the deadliest epidemics in US history from 1918-1919, killing nearly 675,000 americans. When it first started, it killed nearly half the US soldiers who fought in the war. By August of 1918, Philadelphia and Boston were already infected by influenza. Then by October 1919, influenza had killed nearly 200,000 americans.

During the course of human history, pandemic diseases have threatened the balance of civilization itself. Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other infectious agents have

Some scientists including Osterholm were worried to produce virus in the lab can cause mistakenly expose this virus to public. There are many cases that scientists mistakenly infected the virus that they produced, but the biggest anxiety that people had with publishing Fouchier’s research is that they are scared the ‘bad’ virologists will use it to produce lethal and contagious virus to attack human, which can

Displaying an example of a biological agent is the H7N9 (bird flu) epidemic in China beginning in 2013. Xinhuanet English News presents the epidemic clearly. While many vaccines exist for viruses, none will be administered in the foreseeable future for H7N9. They had already reached 96 human infections with 19 deaths in 2014 as of January 27. Fortunately, this epidemic currently has a slow transmission speed and no supporting evidence to suggest consistent human-to-human transmission, but it is addressed that single human-to-human cases are not ruled out. This case is relevant and supports the argument of biological agents posing the greatest threat to human health out of the

Viruses have always made themselves a part of history. Yellow fever, smallpox, and Ebola are only a few that were once dangerous outbreaks. Throughout history viruses have primarily emerged from developing countries and since, affected its population. Action is taken

Many Americans today fear that “…contagion threatens to violate secure borders, invade our society, and proliferate out of control” (Dinello 53). For instance, Ebola remains a number one concern of the United States since Ebola is a virus that infiltrates through the immune system and overruns the physical body as a host, and causes the body to have massive internal bleeding, which leads to a miserable death. Scientists are attempting to formulate a cure or treatment for the virus, so they could stop the prevention and contamination; however, it’s easier said than done. This is why Americans should remain terrified of Ebola, considering that the pathogen has not finished mutating. There’s no telling how dangerous Ebola will become over the decades.

“Like I said Cole, in and out, clean.” I held a tight grip on the steering wheel. “Yeah if people would move out of the way that is, you would think sirens are enough, fuck man.” Cole shakes his head, gazing out the window. “Remember the guy’s name is Jesse Thoran, that’s who’s warranted for arrest.” I said. The wipers swung from left to right, dashing at the rain multiplying like a virus. My GPS lied in the middle of the dashboard, it read ETA: 2 Minutes. Bright, vivid lights covered the late-night city, people scattered the streets like a mundane blur. The cars ahead began pulling over letting us through, keeping the streets cold empty. Almost there. I told myself. “Word around the station is, you know that serial killer that everyone is so scared of nowadays? Well anyway, I’ve heard that every cop who’s gotten close to catching him has died, they say he was in the military before his mind turned to mush.” Cole throws his hands up, rolling his eyes. “Very encouraging.” I break my focus, then begin to chuckle. “Here’s the place, you ready Dante?” “’Course.” I quickly pulled to the sidewalk while silencing the roars of the sirens. Cole swung his door open, he reached for the pistol in his holster. I quickly followed him, we made it to a flight of stairs in an apartment complex. My gaze shifted to the screen attached to my wrist: Apartment 13. I clenched my fist, rotating my wrist, my wrist crackled like a rattlesnake. I held my gun in front of me as we reached a

New information is always being found in science, and it is ever-changing. In the past decade, multiple viruses have been found and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The virus named the Mollivirus sibericum is actually still active and could infect amoeba alive today. Daniel Culpan wrote an article named “Melting Arctic ice might awaken 30,000-year-old virus” stated that “more harmful microbes could be unleashed by melting polar regions” (Culpan, 2015). This proves that Thomas Gale Moore was getting information from sources that were either inaccurate or behind the

As time goes on, the world’s technology advances; with every outbreak of a hot virus, the world can use the newer technology to uncover more knowledge about these viruses. Comparing two separate time frames displays the differences between what medical professionals and the general public knew about dangerous viruses such as Ebola. For example, the codes and regulations on how to handle Ebola in the 1970’s were much were vague and lenient compared to what is established today. Medical personnel have strict rules to follow when handling such a hot virus in the global world that exists today. For these strict guidelines to be established, researchers had to have found more information about what Ebola can do to the human race. This points to the importance of conducting research and the use of advancing technology.

Quoting Newton, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” From this, we can understand that no matter what a human being does, there is always a ready-made answer for it. Smallpox is a virus that killed more than 300 million people by the 20th century (BBC, 2011). But, the cure for it was Edward Jenner’s vaccine. Swine flu killed more than 300,000 people during 2009 (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2012). But, the cure for it was a set of effective and successful vaccines. Like this, medical advancements have been playing an important role in all human beings by creating a new layer of protection to all those viruses out there. As a virologist working in the American Society of Virology, we test many

​Lab 257 is a comprehensively written book of conspiracy and not science in my humble opinion. This work examines a lab in the Plum Island area in New York that is operating under the government for allegedly the betterment of farmer and farm animal research. However, Michael Christopher Carroll, the author, using his research quickly points out that is not the case. Rather, the main agenda of the lab is to produce viruses and other microbes that could decimate populations of livestock of the United State’s enemies in times of war while also developing vaccines to prevent other nations from doing the same to it. This concept is horrifying and sounds like something one may find in the latest science fiction movie or The X-Files, but Carroll believes this to be true and rightfully so.

History has been marked by plagues of infectious diseases. From the devastating Black Death of Europe to deadly outbreaks of tuberculosis and smallpox in the United States, society has faced many battles with infectious diseases. However, with new technology and economic prosperity, many think of infectious diseases as an antiquated threat. This belief is far from true. Since the end of the 20th century, there has been a trend of emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases all over the world. Over 30 new infectious diseases have emerged since the end of the 20th century and outbreaks of old and new diseases are rising (Weiss and McMichael 2004). Through analyzing six sources related to this topic, many factors contributing to this rise

The authors made a great case how asses like Murphy convinced others they knew what they were doing. Their optimistic assessments downplayed the real risks. An accidental pandemic may occur as a result of virus-contaminated vaccines. Helper viruses used to make vaccines could result in the release of viruses that lie hidden in our DNA.

This chapter primarily discusses how it is our cardinal responsibility and commitment that we do not destroy what we cannot re-create and do not yet comprehend. The authors discuss on what would destroy society first. Whether it be genetic diversity, nuclear war, the greenhouse effect, or even the breakdown of the ozone layer. Significantly, working on one does not mean losing sight of the others. But instead, we need to make connections between these issues and others. Furthermore, the authors discuss the use of biological weapons remained a problem until recently, as the advent of biotechnology gave new hope to germ warriors, in which naturally infectious agent can be increased in virulence and harmful genes can be inserted into benign organisms. Considering this, who is to say that the new disease is a natural mutation of the an old disease or the creation of military of military scientists? This is not too far fetched, considering former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s budget for the chemical and biological warfare program grew to a billion dollars annually. Meanwhile, federal support for non-military university research in the life sciences declined.