Black Death... Al-Qaeda Catches Plague- 40 Dead

[mattheman]

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/01/black-death-al-qaeda-catches-plague-40.html

Apparently, rats must have infested their cave.
40 Al-Qaeda rebels died after catching the plague in Algeria.
The Sun reported:


At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

 

[Greenlizard0]

I bet they'll be thinking "aww rats!!"

 

[Ghosteh]

How strange, had just been looking at this right now, news paper(well, the Sun ) on the floor of the living room, and came here to see if something had been posted lol.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

Nasty way to go.

I thought the bubonic plague was extinct, like smallpox?

 

[Chimerical]

Nasty way to go.

I thought the bubonic plague was extinct, like smallpox?

It still exists, just that the cure is so commonplace in the West. Aren't children vaccinated against it?

 

[AtlanticP]

Did someone say 'convenient' and can I say it's.....






















Left4Dead 4 Real

On a more serious note, all it would take is for one of those 'madmen' to incubate it, culture it and release it to cause the military there some problems

 

[bledd]

ray

 

[Azagoth]

How do we know that they weren't growing Y. pestis and got sloppy with their HAZMAT suits? Or even worse, they've gone from explosive suicide bombs to walking amongst the crowds in major World Citys plague carrying bombs. For all we know there could be a few dozen of them just wandering around, just imagine if a couple got into the crowds tomorrow for Obama's inauguration.

Scary stuff!

 

[Deleted member 66701]

How do we know that they weren't growing Y. pestis and got sloppy with their HAZMAT suits? Or even worse, they've gone from explosive suicide bombs to walking amongst the crowds in major World Citys plague carrying bombs. For all we know there could be a few dozen of them just wandering around, just imagine if a couple got into the crowds tomorrow for Obama's inauguration.

Non issue really - it's easily dealt with in modern medicine by a simple dose of anti biotics. Plus most of the Western population has a natural genetic resistance to it (because most of those who didn't have a genetic resitance died out in the middle ages).

 

[neil3k]

Nothing like good news to start your day

 

[Doran]

It is still present in many animals around the world, like in Mongolia, which I read about before travelling there.

 

[Streeteh]

Apparently even if we didn't have a cure the 'black death' wouldn't be as much of an issue today as it was back in the middle ages.

Reason being we have access to even some of the simplest drugs such as paracetamol that help control body temperature, healthier and cleaner living and easy access to fruit and veg. I'm not saying you wouldn't feel awful while infected, but the disease wouldn't wipe out half of London like it did back then.

Moot point anyway, we have a cure.

 

[5ingh]

Great rat intelligence there

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Also, didn't the Catholic Church say in the middle ages that the Plague was Gods vengeance on a corrupt and immoral society?

Quite fitting this time round as well surely?

 

[DaveF]

Moot point anyway, we have a cure.

You sure? Medicinenet implies otherwise (emphasis mine):

Approximately 10 to 20 people in the United States develop plague each year from flea or rodent bites—primarily from infected prairie dogs—in rural areas of the southwestern United States. About 1 in 7 of those infected die from the disease.

 

[antijoke]

How long before there is a video of Bin Laden declaring Jihad on all the rats.

 

[Streeteh]

You sure? Medicinenet implies otherwise (emphasis mine):

Ah true, sorry, i mean we have a vaccination. If a breakout did occur there would be a few casualties but i'm sure the vaccine would be doled out to the masses within a month. Also, there's only been a couple of cases where antibiotics haven't been effective in at least lessening the effects of the disease if not outright curing it.

Also, the 1 in 7 statistic would have most likely been reversed back in the middle ages, 1 in 7 people surviving if they caught it. Probably even less than that

This is all off the top of my head though, good chance i'm wrong.

 

[Bill101]

:

On a more serious note, all it would take is for one of those 'madmen' to incubate it, culture it and release it to cause the military there some problems

far cheaper to buy a plane ticket to the west for those about to die of plague

 

[4T5]

God pays debts Without money.

 

[drunkenmaster]

the 1 in 7 will largely be down to slow treatment as the majority of doctors will never see a case in their lifetime, so when they get it the Plague isn't high up on their list of differential diagnosis's so they don't look at a patient do 3 tests and realise what it is. They rule out one thing after another and the Plague will be so far down the list that they might not get to the point they can start treatment early enough.

Where as if there was an outbreak every doctor in the world would be looking for it, catch the symptoms early and would probably have a hugely higher survival rate than an already high 1 in 7.

But that 1-7 is also those who catch it, far more than that will actually get bitten by plague infested bugs, but as said, lots of people won't get sick from it these days.

1 in 7 who get it die, but only maybe 1 in 100 are getting infected from bites, which would end up being 1 in 700 who are exposed to the disease, die, which is really the best way to look at how dangerous it is these days.