Article

2005-07-31 China-Japan-Koreas

Southwest China Death Toll From Pig-Borne Disease Rises to 34

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Posted by .com 2005-07-31 01:44|| || Front Page|| [11128 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 It looks like a previously unknown Ebola-like virus spread to humans by contact with pig blood. No real risk unless you are chinese pig farmer or a Chicom official who is faced with having to cull millions of pigs.

Best guess is, it was spread by animal waste in pig feed like mad cow.

Posted by phil_b 2005-07-31 01:55|| 2005-07-31 01:55|| Front Page Top

#2 Best guess is, it was spread by animal waste in pig feed like mad cow.

Sorry phil_b, unwashed chopsticks is the likey vector. Chopstick Hygiene is way curable.

Posted by Red rover 2005-07-31 02:46|| 2005-07-31 02:46|| Front Page Top

#3 There is some speculation that portions of this Ebola variant may have recombined with Type A flu (H5N1) that has been raging in the area. Or the other way round.

Posted by Rory B. Bellows 2005-07-31 03:24|| 2005-07-31 03:24|| Front Page Top

#4 The Chinese are blocking foreign and local reporters, so maybe there is something to the rumour its a bioweapon that somehow go loose.

Posted by phil_b 2005-07-31 04:36|| 2005-07-31 04:36|| Front Page Top

#5 But wouldn't China do that anyway, phil b? Look at their response to the SARS virus -- total denial until it was traced back to them. You don't think SARS was a biowarfare experiment, too, do you?

Posted by trailing wife 2005-07-31 11:08|| 2005-07-31 11:08|| Front Page Top

#6 No, SARS wasn't a bioweapon. Occam's Razor sez this is just communist coverup and paranioa, but China is under a lot of scrutiny because of bird flu and there is no obvious reason to actively stop journalists reporting on something that on the face of it is no worse than mad cow.

The bioweapon bit comes from a chinese language report apparently from someone who worked on sequencing one or more viral samples. He said it contained genetic material from 3 different viruses. These days you can determine a lot about the origins of a viral sample from sequencing and could probably tell if it was engineered or not.

Anyway, until the Chicoms admit this is more than a common bacterial infection (in pigs), which its not, its viral, I'll remain suspicious.

Posted by phil_b 2005-07-31 14:13|| 2005-07-31 14:13|| Front Page Top

#7 Swine Fever appears to have some similar symptoms to viral hemorrhagic fevers although it is clearly bacterial in causation. It can be spread by casual contact with anything that had contact with the infection. It's one reason that many pig farms in the United States require you to change clothes and sanitize your boots before entering the barn. At the State College I once worked at, the swine facility required a clean suit type arrangement.

Any mix of Ebola and H5N1 genes in a virus would be a clear indication of manmade origin. The viruses exist thousands of miles apart in the natural state.

And, yes, the Chinese could be lying about all of this, number of illnesses, number of deaths, and virus versus bacteria. Remember that China had the highest number of SARS cases and the lowest death rate of any country with a significant outbreak. If you believe them...

Posted by Chuck Simmins">Chuck Simmins 2005-07-31 21:06|| http://blog.simmins.org]">[http://blog.simmins.org] 2005-07-31 21:06|| Front Page Top

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