A Question of Bacteriology and Virology / Creating a Superbug.

a reply to: Bedlam

Weaponize bed bugs as vector agents.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

I think that's against the Geneva Convention. Scabies might be fun though

a reply to: Navarro

Oh, I get that too. Read "The Stand", by Stephen King, see Resident Evil, the original Andromeda Strain, and a really good book entitled "The Hot Zone".

originally posted by: NewzNose

Why would you want this?

I once had the opportunity to contract an illness of very peculiar symptoms, and was briefly hospitalized for that fact. I was segregated from other patients, and told that they didn't know what I had. My hands and feet were severely swollen or inflamed. I couldn't even fit my feet into my shoes anymore, laced or not, though I had exerted considerable effort in an attempt at putting them on. I experienced acute discomfort in my hands and feet, as well as in my joints throughout my body generally. I recall the shocking intensity of the sensation, yet I simultaneously recall absolute apathy in regard to it. Though I've no doubt the sensations would normally be overwhelming, I responded with total indifference. In fact, I didn't respond at all. I wouldn't flinch when poked or prodded painfully, was unresponsive to pinches and even a sternum rub as a I recall. I felt it, sufficiently intensely that I'm certain I would have normally been overwhelmed, but it meant nothing to me at the time. I would never have even sought treatment had I not been compelled to do so by others.

At the time I was employed by Washington University, which conducts research in the field of virology:

Research in the Wang laboratory is situated at the interface of molecular and cellular virology, genomics and bioinformatics with the overall goal of understanding the causes of infectious diseases. As such, a major effort is dedicated to the identification of novel or unrecognized viral pathogens in both established and emerging infectious diseases.
Washington University

I suffered from a "novel and unrecognized pathogen," though I wasn't actually suffering at all. After a few days the symptoms were no longer present. I was told that they were still unable to identify the pathogen with which I'd been infected, but that it was no longer present in my system. I was released, and informed that I could at any time return for treatment related to the incident, at no cost to me. I was promoted and transferred from Washington University shortly afterward.

I expect that I encountered something which should have been better contained, or worse. From that experience, I understand better than most the nightmarish potential of engineered pathogens. I have no desire to experience anything of the sort. No, I don't want whatever illness it is that you're referring to. I'm simply curious, and suspected that someone here more knowledgeable of the subject would have some interesting input, which they certainly did.

originally posted by: Navarro

originally posted by: reldra
I believe that all the questions you ask are possible, if not already being done.

Incredible. If that's the case, then it would seem that our more easily contained nuclear weapons should be the least of our worries. Humanity is then surely doomed in the most miserable and horrifying way imaginable.

I would be more concerned with binary and trinary viri. An initial RV shows up in what seems like a cold with a limited or partial genetic payload. The second strain comes along to reinforce the first or trigger rapid replication causing a flu or out of control immune response. The third shows up with a real payload and seals the deal.

You could actually model this using the same kind of technology in computer code. The first part of the virus is latent and attaches to certain OS files preparing them for compromise at some later time. The second virus locates the initial virus and merges to produce an actual replicative virus. The third virus comes in and provides the now operational virus with instructions to either compromise or destroy the system. A reasonably small, code wise, set of viri would be very workable especially if it used a self code mutating (polymorphic) encryption engine. The coding to performs simple FIPS or AES based encryption is quite small when programmed in assm.

Considering the amount of research that has been performed on biological systems, this is do-able.

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: Bedlam
a reply to: cavtrooper7

I think that's against the Geneva Convention. Scabies might be fun though

I'm not sure that an organization inclined to produce the means through which to exterminate the human species would be terribly concerned about law. Such things seem to viewed by the major powers as being a means to inhibit lesser powers to the advantage of the major. The Geneva Convention's tribunals are hegemony, not justice. You're talking about an institution which began enforcement through hanging soldiers at Nuremberg, many simply for the crime of violating international law when they invaded other countries. That's what soldiers do. They fight other countries when ordered to do so. They even imprisoned an architect, and bankers simply for the fact of benefiting the German economy. Even sought to put a man on trial simply for the fact that he was another man's son. Politics; but I digress:

Any effort to make humanity extinct would certainly be a crime against humanity, after all. I'm sure the same perception would apply even if one were to kill "only" millions.

a reply to: bobs_uruncle

Sounds awfully superfluous. Why produce a virus which seeks out another virus in order to better its transmission rate, for instance? Why not simply boost the transmission rate of the original prior to release? If each strain has to go through the process of spreading, then I don't see the advantage. Am I misunderstanding?

originally posted by: Navarro
a reply to: bobs_uruncle

Sounds awfully superfluous. Why produce a virus which seeks out another virus in order to better its transmission rate, for instance? Why not simply boost the transmission rate of the original prior to release? If each strain has to go through the process of spreading, then I don't see the advantage. Am I misunderstanding?

Um, because you wouldn't even have a clue you had it till it's too late? It would also be a good extortion plan for the PTB, if the binary was in your system, you might have to buy medication to keep the third virus at bay? If the first two were airborne and the third ingested, it would keep serious control over the population and allow for selective eliminations. Just spit-ballin' here, but everything governments do never seem to be on the up-and-up.

Cheers - Dave

a reply to: Bedlam

So's messing with recombinant RNA bugs in Hawthorne.
I was thinking of the optimal method.