Dutch Researcher Creates Virus That Could Wipe Out Over Half of The World's Population

[Zanderinfal]

/facepalm
FUCKING SCIENTISTS! Always fucking with stuff that could hurt more people then a hooker has sex in a month.

No offence Gordon. Put the crowbar DOWN.

 

[asinann]

WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MAKE THIS!?!

And why didn't he release it?

 

[Brawndo]

Is it just me or this how those movies always start?

 

[MaxwellEdison]

I doubt many terrorist organizations today have the capabilities to copy these experiments. Not to mention, most of them today are religious fundamentalists, not really the science type.

I would be far more worried about governments using it, but as the largest militaries have realized that this kind of world ending device fucks them over too (since they're actually run by sane people), I'm not too frightened.

Plus, there's the benefit of being ready for a potential epidemic.

 

[C2Ultima]

Well, the sooner it's made, the sooner they can go about finding a vaccine I suppose. At least that's my stance with my limited knowledge of diseases and such.

 

[CAMDAWG]

Please, it's strength is obviously overestimate.

I mean, everyone remembers the "swine flu" incident, right?
Now does anybody remember what came before it.....no?

People always overestimate these things, and just because it's artificial doesn't mean it's any more effective than anything natural.

Besides, it's in a lab, and, despite what fiction tries to tell you, most scientists are actually competent.

the worry over the swine flu was not what the flu already was, but what the flu could easily mutate into.
And THIS research shows that that little swine flu could easily fuck us all over with just a few mutations

-tho this research was actually done on the bird flu rather than the swine flu, but same idea, a few mutations, and we're screwed

This. Swine flu and bird flu were on the opposite ends of the scale. H5 was deadly, but not very contagious from human to human, and H1 was very contagious, but not particularly worse than the regular flu. The fear with both of them was that a mutation might cause both properties to be high, in which case we'd all be fucked. No one should have been afraid of swine flu as it was, they should have been afraid of what it could've become. Unfortunately I don't think the majority of the public properly understood that.

OT: I'm torn by this. For one, it's a very risky experiment, and while I have 99.9% trust in the safety measures used when handling harmful viruses, they're playing with fire here. On the other hand, having access to such a deadly strain might be handy in making new treatments. Even though influenza viruses mutate so rapidly and unpredictably that a similarly deadly strain might be completely different, I can't imagine having access to this could hurt our chances.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I doubt many terrorist organizations today have the capabilities to copy these experiments. Not to mention, most of them today are religious fundamentalists, not really the science type.

I would be far more worried about governments using it, but as the largest militaries have realized that this kind of world ending device fucks them over too (since they're actually run by sane people), I'm not too frightened.

Plus, there's the benefit of being ready for a potential epidemic.

It could always lead to world peace in that shaky "Weekly national bomb shelter a.k.a. 'Put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye' drills" Cold War-esque way.

 

[Zenn3k]

Infect the population
charge them for the cure.

Standard stuff really.

I'm surprised there is so much surprise.

 

[Vanorae]

Wow, a lot of bile towards the Dutch in the comments of that first link. Are the Dutch actually hated by a lot of people or is that just the internet being the internet?

OT: Ok, it says the research was to see how much it would take for an existing virus to mutate enough to kill us all. Fair enough. But I'd agree that it may not be a good idea to tell anyone else how to do it intentionally.

As a Dutch person who visits the internet, I've never really noticed that much hate. I still think that this virus is a terrible thing though

OT: I don't really understand why Dutch researchers made this, I think it's just to create vaccinations against it.

 

[NightHawk21]

K and? Truth be told you see how frail the human immune system is once you start taking microbio courses and they start dealing with infection (don't get me wrong its amazing, but not perfect, far from it). Still props to the guy, and as for why? just because you can, you don't need another reason.

Also fun fact the US has some pretty nasty bacterial and viral strains that are on par if not more deadly than this virus.

 

[invadergir]

I could see how it would be worth creating. After all it wasn't so long ago people were scared of H1N1 (swine flu) and speaking as someone who actually had swine flu I can tell you it's far from fatal.

if a virus like H5N1 is this deadly and the virus is actually capable of mutating into something worse, at least we'd already know about it. Seems like a pretty valid study since it might prevent such a disease from being transmitted.

I say study it, figure out what you can and then destroy it. some things just don't need to be kept forever.

A mutation of the H1N1 killed at least 50 million people in 1918. Its more commonly known as the "Spanish Flu".

There is no such thing as over-reacting when it comes to highly contagious viruses. Some of the bio-engineered stuff out there could end civilization. That's not even an exaggeration.

 

[Jedoro]

This was a triumph...


Anyway, as people have said this research is deal with the potential problem of a mutated version of H5N1. Can't hope to react fast enough if it's a complete surprise. Makes sense.

I'm making a note here: huge success.


Hey, mad science can have a good purpose, people.

 

[Insubordination]

What the world would say to this guy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lITBGjNEp08

 

[Cr33dl0rd]

hehehe, try and fuck with us now, Germany...

 

[JesterRaiin]

...so it begins.

http://images.hollywood.com/site/The%20Stand%20Cover.jpg

 

[warrcry13]

WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MAKE THIS!?!

Apparently, its to understand the bird flu more. So they could possibly be able to react properly to a pandemic, quarantine people and develop a vaccine.

Or they worship Nurgle.

So you're saying we could have a Cadian Blood plot on our hands? I'm not looking forward to that.

 

[xdiesp]

That's freaking nothing to be honest, the justinian plague which kept striking for a millennia had a mortality rate of (!) 100%.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

I find it a bit unnerving the way people suddenly hate scientists for being scientists. I imagine some religious group will jump up and condemn science for creating something like this, ignoring the fact that only a religious group would actually use it.