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Black Death's Genome Cracked
exceed writes: "This article on Wired, and this article on Yahoo! News states that scientists have decoded the genome of the bubonic plague bacterium. This will now (hopefully soon) lead to vaccinations and treatments for the disease it causes."
"In their study, published in the Oct. 4 issue of Nature, the researchers mapped a strain of plague that killed a veterinarian in the United States in 1992. He contracted the disease after an infected cat sneezed on him."
If you mess around with some bad pussy you get burned.
Smallpox won't "spread like crazy" because you need to be within close proximity to an infected person. Once it becomes known that there is a major smallpox outbreak, you can be sure people will severely limit their interpersonal contacts. And there is indeed a smallpox vaccine. See this article.
An excerpt:
"The possible use of smallpox virus as a weapon by terrorists has stimulated growing international concern and led to a recent review by the World Health Organization of the global availability of smallpox vaccine. This review found approximately 60 million doses worldwide, with little current vaccine manufacture, although limited vaccine seed remains available (1). Ongoing discussions in the United States suggest that the national stockpile should contain at least 40 million doses to be held in reserve for emergency use, including in case of a terrorist release of smallpox virus (O'Toole, this issue, pp. 540-6).
The current U.S. stockpile contains approximately 15.4 million doses of vaccinia vaccine (Dryvax) made from the New York City Board of Health strain of vaccinia and was produced by Wyeth Laboratories in 13 separate lots. The vaccine is lyophylized in glass vials with rubber stoppers and sealed with a metal band. When rehydrated, each vial contains 100 doses and has a potency of at least 108 plaque-forming units (pfu)/ml. Some vials of the vaccine stockpile have shown elevated moisture levels and thus failed routine quality control testing; however, the vaccine in these vials remains potent, and the failed lots have not been discarded."
Microsoft has posted the genome of the Black Plague here, confirming the "viral" nature of the GPL. FSF responded by pointing out that the Black Death was actually a bacterium. Isaac Hayes suggested that a reconstructed Black Plague would produce this.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai