SCI/TECH: Is West Nile virus Saddam's revenge?

Some U.S. health officials are beginning to question why the U.S. strain of West Nile virus is deadlier to humans and birds than anywhere else on the planet ? with the exception of Israel. In the United States, about 40 mosquito species have tested positive for the virus, but only about a dozen can transmit the virus, and only three or four build up levels of the virus that make them competent spreaders of infection.

WorldNetDaily

Though no human cases of the bird virus have been confirmed yet this year, the U.S. has tracked 6,000 cases in the last two years ? along with 550 deaths.

This is by far the worst human toll anywhere in the world at any time since the virus' discovery in Uganda in 1937.

U.S. health officials believe the West Nile virus has mutated into an illness far deadlier to human beings in the United States ? but they don't know why.

Interestingly, the U.S. strain appears almost identical to only one other strain in the world ? the one found in Israel.

There is increasing suspicion that one of his labs was not in Iraq at all ? but less than 50 miles from the Florida coast. Cuban defectors say that Fidel Castro's Biological Front studied ways of using migratory birds to spread infectious diseases to the U.S.

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[Edited on 27-5-2004 by Banshee]

Paranoid or what ! Given the close ties between Isreal and the US i.e. the transport of people and goods, there should be no surprise whatsoever that the same virus, carried by a small bug for god's sake, is found in both places. As for why is it more deadly ? Why not ? Would it be less of a surprise if a new strain was less deadly to humans ? There is a 50:50 chance that a mutation is more harmful. Viruses mutate by themselves all the time.

Originally posted by malcr
Paranoid or what ! Given the close ties between Isreal and the US i.e. the transport of people and goods, there should be no surprise whatsoever that the same virus, carried by a small bug for god's sake, is found in both places. As for why is it more deadly ? Why not ? Would it be less of a surprise if a new strain was less deadly to humans ? There is a 50:50 chance that a mutation is more harmful. Viruses mutate by themselves all the time.

Not paranoid, it is highly suspicious that the deadliest strains are found in the US and in Israel, if you don't see that then you are a bit naive. Two countries that are hated by many dictatorships and communist/socialist nations are the ones with the "deadliest form of West Nile virus"..... And Israel is not the only or the country that we have the most import/export or tourist relations with.....We actually have more tourism from other countries as well as imports/exports.....
There has been a connection for some time between Castro and Iraq.

Castro has helped every dictatorship that exists in the world, pretty much like the Russians and Chinese are doing it, but the trail to the Russians and Chinese is a bit harder to find than the one leading to a connection between Castro and Iraq.

In 1999 Richard Preston, wrote an article in The New Yorker magazine that made a connection between Cuba-Iraq to West Nile virus.

Castro has bragged about a new superweapon that he had a couple of years back or so. The connection is there, and Castro has been known to do such things in the past.
Also something to consider is that Castro made a statement that he would help the US to help us rid of the virus......anyone who knows how that idiot of a dictator works knows that this statement is just a way for him to try to clear himself from any connections between him, Iraq and the virus.

West Nile Virus: Bioweapon or Divine Punishment?


[Edited on 27-5-2004 by Muaddib]

If the west nile virus was Saddam's revenge then he introduced the dengue virus in the caribean for centuries. The dengue virus cause by a mosquito and the west nile virus are very similar. I had dengue virus when I was a teen it attacts your nervious system leaving you like a mass of jello with not control of your body, it only last few weeks but the complications can kill you. My mother had the one that makes you bleed and has to be in isolation for 2 months. This type is sprouting now and is new.

[Edited on 27-5-2004 by marg6043]

[Edited on 27-5-2004 by marg6043]

Erf. That Worldnet Daily article is about on par with "Scientists Clone Elvis!" announcements. It's chock full of speculations that don't stand up to scrutiny. I know, because I was involved (at my university) with a West Nile education research project this last semester.

In order for this to have been an EvYYYYYLLLL Plot by Saddam (tm), it would have required Saddam to suddenly think that he could take over the US by infecting us with a not particularly deadly virus (the mortality rate is very low unless you are old and/or have a compromised immune system.) A lot of people get it and think they have the flu.

Perhaps Saddam had some sort of grudge against senior citizens...?

Some U.S. health officials are beginning to question why the U.S. strain of West Nile virus is deadlier to humans and birds than anywhere else on the planet ? with the exception of Israel. In the United States, about 40 mosquito species have tested positive for the virus, but only about a dozen can transmit the virus, and only three or four build up levels of the virus that make them competent spreaders of infection.

And any epidemiologist and biologist can tell those health officials that the reason for it is that it's a new disease here in the U.S. Given 40 years, and it will not be any deadlier here than it is elsewhere (note: health officials may not be scientists. You don't have to have a PhD (or even a Masters') in biology/toxicology/virology/epidemiology to be a health official for a city or state)

Though no human cases of the bird virus have been confirmed yet this year, the U.S. has tracked 6,000 cases in the last two years ? along with 550 deaths.

These are known cases. Not the ones who get it, think they have the flu, and recover.

U.S. health officials believe the West Nile virus has mutated into an illness far deadlier to human beings in the United States ? but they don't know why.

Oy. As I said, WND as a source is about the equivalent of the National Enquirer. In terms of deadly illnesses, may I just refer you to the stats for the flu/pneumonia this past winter? www.cdc.gov...

Note that cases of the flu peaked at over 3,000 cases per week. During the height of the seasonal epidemic, 7% of all deaths in the key cities in the US were due to flu/pneumonia.

WND can be serious and can have long term effects. But the speculation in that article really is on par with Elvis sightings.

This is incredible PR weather is tropical!!! Where this influenza comes from!!!!

Not only is saddam responsible for the West Nile Virus, I bet he even sent SARS to Asia and Bird Flu to infect the chicken eating masses of the Western world, and don't forget mad cow, he probably did that too.

(sorry for be so damn sarcastic, but the West Nile Virus a product of Saddam? jeez...why don't we just blame every problem on the Arabs, muslims, Al-Qaeda and Saddam, then we can continue killing them without any regards for human rights because they all deserve it

no offence zion, i know you're just reporting a story, and my sarcasm isn't directed at you, but at the original creators of the story.

I think all this viruses had been around always but we different names and may be not in the higest number as now. i remember my mother saying that some deseases are not new just different names.

Originally posted by marg6043
This is incredible PR weather is tropical!!! Where this influenza comes from!!!!

Ask the question in the Science & Technology forum, and I'l be glad to answer a lot of questions on it/start a long discussion on it. My previous Masters' degree included courses in epidemiology and work in an epidemiology lab with an epidemeologist who specialized in diseases of South and Central America.



(man, I need coffee. I can't spell 'epidemiology' for beans today...)

Dear I am a coffee addict too, I am from the caribean so coffee is our blood. Thanks for the information my daughter wants to reaseach in deaseses she is in her third year in biology.

This wasn't originally brought on worldnetdaily, but in the New Yorker magazine, newsmax, Foxnews, ABCnews, to name a few.


www.foxnews.com...


" The Monterey Institute of International Studies said that the federal Centers for Disease Control sent Iraq three shipments of West Nile Virus for use in "medical research" back in 1985. (West Nile Virus was prevalent in Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia) And it was not detected in the Western hemisphere until 1999. Its emergence in the U.S. was so curious that Senator Patrick Leahy urged an investigation of whether its spread was a result of biological terrorism. (So far this year, there have been 2324 human cases of West Nile Virus in the U.S. and 44 deaths.) "

Excerpt taken from.
www.aim.org...

In the above link there is also mention of a link of Al Qaeda and Iraq.

" Senator Asks: West Nile-Terror Link?

M O N T P E L I E R, Vt., Sept. 13 � A senator who was the target of an anthrax-laden envelope sent to his Washington office last year has raised the possibility that terrorists may be responsible for the spread of another disease: the West Nile virus.

Sen. Patrick Leahy called on the government to examine whether terrorism is involved in a West Nile outbreak that has killed 54 people this year.

"I think we have to ask ourselves: Is it coincidence that we're seeing such an increase in West Nile virus or is that something that's being tested as a biological weapon against us?" Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Thursday. "

Excerpt taken from.
abcnews.go.com...

Worldwatcher....you are doubting that Saddam, who mentioned several times that there would be terrible attacks in the US before 9/11, would do something like this.....

No one has said "The Arabs are doing this..." it was Saddam through his regime, and Castro has been helping. i wouldn't doubt if the link went all the way to the Russian and Chinese government too.


Saddam did have an active chemical and biological weapons program....and Castro has many times bragged about a superweapon he has... there have also been connections between Castro and Iran...


" Ike Seamans Report: Cuba's Biological Weapon Industry



NBC 6

MIAMI, October 10 - The sudden, sharp focus on the potential for bioterrorism to be directed at the U.S. must now include a wary eye cast toward Cuba.


That's the conclusion from a wide range of experts who say Cuba's broken economy is forcing it to sell biotechnology.

Cuba has just sold many of its biotechnology secrets to Iran, secrets that can be used to build biochemical weapons. Both countries are on the State Department's list of terrorist nations capable of doing that.

While experts say Cuba poses no immediate threat to the United States, there is concern about Iran and this new, potentially dangerous relationship forged by Fidel Castro.

With help from the Soviet Union's massive secret biological weapons program, Castro was able to build one of the world's most sophisticated biotechnology industries which can also be used to build weapons of mass destruction.

In his book, Biohazard, former Soviet scientist Ken Alibeck says he helped to train Cubans in this technology. It is something he now regrets.

Dr. Ken Alibek: "This work would be used for developing biological weapons or biological agents. As a result of this, we helped Castro develop biological weapons. It was such a stupid decision to just do this."

Gen. Charles Wilhelm, a former Southcom Commander says: "The indications we have is that they have the capability to produce those type of substances."

In 1995, the U.S. Senate released a report saying Cuba was one of just 17 countries believed to have biological weapons. Last year, in this classified report, Secretary of Defense William Cohen warned of "Cuba's potential to develop and produce biological agents" that can kill.

In the Angolan Civil War, Cuban soldiers used a deadly biological weapon it developed called "yellow rain" to kill rebels opposed to the Marxist government. "

Excerpts taken from.
www.futurodecuba.org...

And the link goes all the way to.....


" In 1989, the first defector to emerge from Biopreparat, Vladimir Pasechnik,
revealed that the Soviet biological warfare effort was ten times larger than
estimated by US or British intelligence. And in 1992 Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov
(Ken Alibek) defected, providing new details of Moscow's extensive
biological warfare development program. Other defectors, whose identities
have not been disclosed, have provided additional information to Western
intelligence agencies.
Sources and Resources
a.. FORMER SOVIET BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS FACILITIES IN KAZAKHSTAN: PAST,
PRESENT, AND FUTURE
b.. Expert Eyes Russian Chemical Arsenals : JPRS-TAC-95-006-L : 26 January
1995
www.fas.org...

July 19, 1999 Vol. 154 No. 3
The Germ Warrior
Ken Alibek helped build Soviet bacteria bombs--and says the Russians still
do it
BY DICK THOMPSON

It was 1988 in the Soviet Union, at the height of the movement toward reform
and openness known as glasnost. But even as Mikhail Gorbachev was cozying up
to the West, his military was still plotting the destruction of cold war
enemies. One day several officers responsible for arming missiles met in a
soundproof room in Moscow with one of the country's top biological-warfare
experts, Kanatjan Alibekov. Their main question: How fast could SS-18
intercontinental missiles be armed with anthrax bombs? For Alibekov, it was
a simple calculation that he did over tea. The Soviets had developed a
suitably potent form of anthrax, and 400 kg of the deadly germ would be
needed for each warhead. "

Excerpts taken from.
mailgate.supereva.it...


[Edited on 27-5-2004 by Muaddib]

Not a scientist or a doctor, but the most obvious explanation of US and Israel being most hit by West Nile is that the majority of the populations likely have more similar physical traits and makeups than say the majority populations of the US and Iraq. Also, both countries have very advanced medical communities, where as some European and Arab countires may not have the training, money or people to diagnose.

Given the capability to send bio attacks thru unstoppable means such as these, biting bugs, would it not make more sense to put something a bit more potent into play?
And the stretch to make a two bit third world dictator who was only in control of 60% of his own country into some Dr.Evil is a bit much, no?

Gotta agree with Bout Time on this. You want a "hot" pathogen that is easily transmissible and highly lethal.

I also have a problem with the article making the claim that more virulent forms are present in the US and Israel. I mean how could you keep mosquitoes contained within a specific country?

Even if we assume that a more lethal form of WN was introduced, you would see this more lethal form in other countries within a short period of time.

Originally the West Nile virus was to be spread throu birds, mosquitos bite birds when they reach land and through the mosquitos the dissease is transmitted to humans, just like bird flu. Perhaps these have been trials to see how these diseases propagate in the US.

And Americans have similar traits with every nation in the world.....The US has a wide variety of people, not just from Israel...most people in the US are not descendants of Israeli people.

The fact is that there are countries, which don't give a rats butt about what they unleash in the US, that have been experimenting in these kinds of flaviviruses.

The start of H5N1 bird flu in Asia could have been an accident. After 6 people died in China of this disease, Chinese producers decided to take no chances and to vaccinate birds with inactive H5N1 virus.... They had the inactive form of the virus, a vaccine... It is highly possible this was the Chernobyl of China.

When you develop a virus, you also develop the vaccine alongside the virus.


Forgot to post a link, here it is.
www.newscientist.com...



[Edited on 28-5-2004 by Muaddib]

Oh and BTW, "laboratory engineered viruses" are normally more resistant againt vaccines, because of the ability of the virus to mutate easily and avoid eradication.

"Vaccine fear

Experts say tiny genetic modifications may not only increase the virulence of a virus, but also render existing vaccines useless. "

Excerpt taken from.
news.bbc.co.uk...