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New Virus Jumps From Monkeys To Lab Workers
sciencehabit writes "It started with a single monkey coming down with pneumonia at the California National Primate Research Center in Davis. Within weeks, 19 monkeys were dead and three humans were sick. Now, a new report confirms that the Davis outbreak was the first known case of an adenovirus jumping from monkeys to humans. The upside: the virus may one day be harnessed as a tool for gene therapy."
One must wonder if this story has been released to create publicity for the reboot Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
yeah, except that probably involved something more like Goatse, rather than simple proximity between humans and primates.
The California National Primate Research Center. Hmm, does that sound like it's owned by a private corporation or the US Government? I know, lets make a bunch of retarded, baseless accusations under the assumption that it is without first taking 5 seconds to look it up.
I heard it was the Umbrella division at the CNPRC where this initially happened.
You damned dirty apes!
This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
We don't really understand the biology of virus jumping species, do we? Other than the few documented cases of some viruses, that is - i.e., this virus x has done it before.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
I bet there will be the usual "I am legend" zombie jokes now. Seriously, while there are dangers in using a virus for gene therapy .. most viruses .. in fact a good 99% of them are handily defeated by the immune system. Also not all viruses spread easily. Furthermore when they are used in gene therapy their genes are removef are severely crippled
RTFA - it was essentially harmless to us.
That's a relief, I was worried it'd be a computer thing.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Why would it "wipe out the bulk of the human race"? We encounter new viruses every year and our immune systems adapt. The workers in question didn't die either. How do you make the leap from a simple virus in an ape jumping to a few isolated humans to it wiping out the human race? Been watching too many movies? How would this be different than say, avian or swine flu? Somehow because it comes from an ape suddenly we're all doomed? Grow up.
From Wikipedia:
The California National Primate Research Center (CNPRC) is a United States federal government funded biomedical research facility, dedicated to improving human and animal health, and located on the University of California, Davis, campus.
Yeah, sounds just like a private lab far away from the scrutiny of the public eye. Hell, the freshmen might even have trouble getting into the lab for late-night makeout/pot smoking sessions! Doubt it, though.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
This article, of the flavor of scientists (found|suggest) x ->y, when it was TOO LATE to get a single DNA sample!
Instead of a CarbonTax we need a FauxScienceClaptrapHotAirTax. There is far too much of it.
Worse than that.
If clever well funded scientists under careful observation do this there is a none zero chance of danger. However they will publish their findings and the state of the art will advance.
If you make it illegal to do this kind of research then someone somewhere will tinker with it.* They are much more likely to make mistakes and skip safety protocols.
Nothing significant will be learnt from their findings (because they can't publish) but we will face all the danger of their mistakes.
*They may be elite scientist working for military/uber-pharmaceutical company or they may be a less than fully talented fringe scientist in some less well funded/observed company/country - neither of those options are reassuring.
"The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
I like the irony that the gene therapy developed would save you from the virus you created in the research. So by terminating the research you don't develop the cure you'll later need ;-)
"The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
Oh, I assumed that the posting was caused by the spasming bought on by the force with which your jerking knee it your chin.
note to self: steer clear of monkeys.
Life tip - I completely agree with your retort, the parent doesn't understand well how the immune system works. But the ad hominem at the end is not necessary, mate, and will make any audience side against you.
mov ah, 4ch
int 21h
Nothing more than could go wrong with natural evolution over the the same course of time.
See, we have these things called DNA, that occurs naturally, and these things that happen to it called mutations, that occur naturally, and every time we wipe something out or solve a problem, we "force" the organism (indirectly) to move to a mutation that survives. In doing so, nature does the same things as we would do, except more efficiently, more quickly, more randomly and under far less control.
Wait 50 years. AIDS will be back, in a slightly different form. Bird flu will be back. Swine flu will be back (it is already, in various mutated forms that we can't treat). MRSA will be back (because MRSA is basically nothing more than an evolved bacteria).
30 years ago we hadn't even heard of MRSA or AIDS and today they are present most of the world. Guess what'll happen 30 years from now, especially if we eradicate either of those and leave lots more potential human hosts living for longer with freedom to copulate more than previously?
Nothing we do in genetics, or even huge tracts of biology, isn't happening too, now, around you, this second, under far, far less control. And guess what? If we don't tinker with it ourselves, we have no way to detect, understand, treat and cope with any of those natural changes that have a devastating effect on people (i.e. we'd be able to do fuck-all about AIDS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, even just simple cancer). Cancer is a naturally-occurring mutation that makes a single cell out of billions in your body go ape-shit and not stop reproducing.
Despite all that, statistics show that people have NEVER lived as long as they do now (and cancer survival rates are phenomenal compared to even 10 years ago). All that's because of people tinkering.
Basically, your argument would make more sense reversed - why aren't we tinkering more? Tinkering helps, yet nature destroys and keeps coming back and back and back and attacking us with new things all the time that we take DECADES to understand.
Is it still "sex" if the entire animal is inside the orifice in question? In other news, who's ready for lunch?
It is when science goes in unexpected directions that progress is made.
So in a way "What could possibly go wrong" is the desired result.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
The "new" viruses you refer to are mutations of existing human viruses - they are more the same than they are different. When a virus jumps species the risk is that it is different enough to not be efficiently recognized by the immune system. Our immune systems are already "pre-primed" with antibodies to viruses we have already encountered, and that gives us a significant advantage in fighting off the "new" viruses you refer to, which are generally minor mutations.
Better known as 318230.
No, it involved a vaccination program with SIV-tainted products.
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
So maybe, in retrospect, accepting a private offer for the monkey on lab tech porn wasn't such a great way to fund the lab after all. Damn budget cuts.
Monstar L
Unlikely. It will be weaponised for more desperate, enormous profits.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Well said. Nature's unchecked experimentation is far more horrifying and rewarding then anything man can come up with. While we can often come up with marvels and directions nature might not have gone, the scope and timeline of what we have done so far is a joke. It is hubris in the most apt sense of the word to think we can outproduce nature at this point.
Good-bye
Somehow, I'm forced to suggest an alternative.
The fact that they're releasing Rise of The Planet of the Apes in a couple of weeks seems apropos here. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Nature works on the exact same principal. THAT is what evolution is.
Good-bye
The summary has the article on it's head. Did the poster or the editors actually read the article??? The virus did not jump from the monkeys to the humans, but the other way around. Sick lab worker was the source of the virus, which jumped on the monkeys. As this was a completely new pathogen for them, they had no immunity and most of the infected animals died. This is typical 'small pox blanket' story.
The book, The Hotzone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone), tells a story about a strain of Ebola that became known as Ebola Reston that was discovered in a research facility in Reston, VA in 1989.
It was an airborne strain that spread from monkey to monkey much like the Flu and was extremely fatal to the monkeys. But while it could (and DID) infect a human, it had no ill effects. The scary thing is that there are other strains of Ebola that are fatal to humans (Ebola Zaire).
Anyway, it's a little bit frightening how close we came here to an easily transmitted airborne virus that is fatal to 50 to 90% of the people who get it within 3 weeks of contraction. Yes, I know it would not wipe out the bulk of the human race...probably. But there are reasons we have pandemic plans in place and while things like the Bird and Swine flu have been blown out of proportion in recent years, the truth is that nature could throw us a curve ball at any moment and everyone who dismissed the bird and swine flu (including me) would be in for a surprise.
The phrase "small pox blanket", while applicable to cases where the disease was spread accidentally via blankets, is better reserved for those cases where disease-carrying blankets were deliberately used as vectors of infection against enemy peoples, such as the seige of Fort Pitt.
-kgj
All viruses are mutations of past ones. It's called evolution. Whether it's from one species to another, they are all mutations of past virii. We call them new because they are new mutations, not because God suddenly said "Let there be Virii!" Even species jumping virii have to do battle with our "pre-primed" immune system because there is very little it hasn't seen before, in one form or another. You act as if our bodies have never come into contact with virii from other species before.
Except when the answer to that questions is "zombies."
Why? It's great!
You have cancer?
Use Public Transport and get cured for free!
(You might get the sniffles free on top)
What they meant to say was "28 Days Later".
I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
dead people need to sue too.
analyzed lung tissue samples from the dead monkeys and identified a never-before-seen adenovirus, which they named titi monkey adenovirus (TMAdV), or "T-virus."
Point taken, but I think that you're looking at the little picture and not the big one. Viruses have been evolving with us for millions of years (ok hundreds of thousands in our case). While a "curve ball" as you say is possible, it's also very unlikely. The last major curve ball was probably the "black plague" which put a big dent in society but was also highly treatable, only our ignorance kept us from treating it properly. We're much better about these things now.
You could say that AIDs was a curve ball. It's certainly killed enough people. We didn't handle it well in the beginning and as a result we're now seeing many people die from it which could have been avoided. But AIDS taught us a great deal. Combating these illnesses isn't just about the immune system. We have tools a simple virus can never have; intelligence.
The airborne Ebola is interesting though. I am by no means an expert on the subject but it fascinates me. Microscopic killers are always an interesting study.
Having been permanently damaged by viewing the goatse meme a good number of years ago, I still seem to remember that the analogy would be more as if she had had the whole monkey shoved up her ass a few times. Which in HIND sight is more logical, since the monkeys in question in this case look like they must have really small dicks. And she couldn't have infected them if she wore a strap on.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
Actually, humans can target certain mutations specifically and accomplish things nature might or might not have a mutation path to.
Things like making certain parts fluorescent and such. In nature there is an implied improvement in survival and/or reproduction that preserves a mutation and propagates it onward. Humans can create mutations that provide no such advantages.
But the difference is that as human pursue these various mutations, there can be unintended side effects and consequences. Things like bacteria that excrete alcohol for biofuels that happen to like to live in the soil and feed off plant matter. Their alcohol excretions can kill living foliage. If those bugs manage to get out of their scientific/industrial homes and escape into the wild - and survive - then we have created a path to wipe out vegetation.
I think that kind of scenario is along the lines of what people fear. Sure, nature could also come up with a bug that feeds off plant matter, excretes alcohol, and loves to live in the soil. But humans have already done it and now it is a liability if it ever gets out.
Following your argument, humans can successfully mate with a tiger, since we at some point originated from the same primordial soup.
Also, the reason for the h1n1 scare, was we humans have tried that interspecies thing before, notably during ww1 where millions died of the Spanish flu.
Also, the h1n1, unlike most virii, did more damage to young people than normal, suspicion is our immune system had not seen this strain before, where as older people might have been primed in outbreaks before 1970.
That doesn't follow my logic in any way shape or form. You should learn some of the basics of biology before attempting to make that analogy. Interaction with other species and contract germs/viruses is a far cry away from mating with them. But lets take your example anyway and then point out the Mule and the Liger. There are of course other examples.
Yeah, one percent of Caucasians are immune to HIV. Not 1% of people, just 1% of caucasians. HIV goes airborne, bye bye human race that can't afford drugs, which is 99.9% of them once demand goes to 100%.
Adaptability rarely happens over a short period with slowly reproducing creatures. Virii, reproducing at an unimaginably faster rate can adapt faster. It's a race we can never win.
I8-D
Following your argument, humans can successfully mate with a tiger, since we at some point originated from the same primordial soup
No, following his logic you could shoot a tiger with an elephant gun. Just the gun wouldn't work as well on a tiger as it works on an elephant.
New Virus Jumps From Infected Computers To IT Workers.
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
This happened back in 1987 at NAMRL (Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory) where 3 handlers (plus one of the handlers' wives - the first human-human transmission) were infected with B-virus (cercopithecid herpesvirus 1, Herpesvirus simiae), two of which later died. From what I was told (from health care workers that cared for them at the time) it was quite a horrible way to die; herpes lesions covering almost their entire bodies.
http://www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/lpn26-3.html
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
Somehow, I'm forced to suggest an alternative.
The fact that they're releasing Rise of The Planet of the Apes in a couple of weeks seems apropos here. :-P
Planet of the Apes is already here, look at all the monkeys and baboons in Congress.
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Wow, yeah, gene therapy, that's great. Who is going to need it if we are all dead? Read "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston, and you'll then know why this is terribly bad news.
Words, words, words
The summary says, "the first known case of an adenovirus jumping from monkeys to humans". Is HIV an adenovirus? I couldn't find any information that it is.
To followup on this comment, HIV is a retrovirus (meaning its genome as stored as RNA). Adenovirus' genome is in double-stranded DNA.
From the article:
"After testing the other monkeys at the primate center, which houses hundreds of enclosures, the researchers found one healthy rhesus macaque with TMAdV antibodies. That suggests the disease might have arisen in the macaques and somehow passed to lab workers or the titi monkeys via shared medical equipment or some other contact between the two species, the researchers report today in PLoS Pathogens."
So manaque -> Human -> titi
OR
So manaque -> Human
-> titi
OR
So manaque -> equipment -> Human
-> titi
In ANY case, the macaque appear to have had it first, then humans.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Dr Bob - is that you?!?
Ok John , which monkeys have you been kissing , we need to know NOW!.....
Yeah, sounds just like a private lab far away from the scrutiny of the public eye. Hell, the freshmen might even have trouble getting into the lab for late-night makeout/pot smoking sessions! Doubt it, though.
Davisite here. They would indeed have quite a hard time wandering in. Keeping non-authorized humans out would be enough of a concern purely for the contamination aspect. They study tuberculosis, HIV, and several other diseases out there, and the monkeys aren't cheap. They don't want dirty humans getting their stock sick. The much, much, much bigger security issue is the psycho animal rights movement native to northern California. The primate center is high on their hit list. Security is tight.
If a college student wandered about a mile out of town (it is a small town, so that's not -too- far from campus) away from nearly any signs of civilization, they'd be greeted with a large imposing fence that screams "Go away" and could probably keep a speeding car from charging on through. If they tried to go through the gate, they'd be greeted by at least one armed security guard. They presumably would not be on the approved list, and given the above security concerns, would have a hard time talking their way past. Safe to assume the doors are locked too.
It would not be trivial.
Holy shit.
http://richardpreston.net/preston-books/hot-zone
That exceprt is horrifying. I could not stop reading it, and wanted to curl up into a fetal ball and whimper. I'm not sure I could read the book, but the exerpt was very compelling reading (apparently). That is some seriously scary stuff.
Ok; I can see your point. Perhaps my urge to respond was tainted by the massive amounts of ad-homenim all over the internet. I guess what really provoked my inspiration is that I agreed with with geek completely, except at the end and for me it killed the credibility.
mov ah, 4ch
int 21h
This apocalypse scenario is much like gray goo. Bacteria and viruses have ridiculously high population sizes (e.g. bacterial cells on/in your body outnumber your own cells 10 to 1), very short generation times (e.g. 30 minutes), reduced genome stability (so faster evolution), and have been trying to reproduce at maximal levels for over a billion years. Our continuing existence defies that goal, which is a testament to just how effective our immune system really is. Something entirely new is unlikely to even be effective in attacking us, let alone evading our defenses. Most anything we make in the lab has probably already been done at some point in nature, just through random chance (e.g. mutation and horizontal gene transfer).
Your argument is flawed, and I'm not sure why you are bringing religion into this either. Since all viruses are mutations of past ones, then why are some so much more deadly than others? Apparently you believe that since our immune system can fend off a virus, it can fend off any virus, because they share some common ancestry. That is absurd. Whether they had a common ancestry or not is moot. The longer a virus has to mutate within a specific species, there more different it will be from the point at which it "forked". Evolution is a two way street. When the virus jumps to a new species, that new species is seeing a virus that it did not have the opportunity to gradually evolve defenses against over time. Such an event CAN be catastrophic to a species. I didn't say the human race would go extinct, but that it is conceivable that the bulk of our species could die because of such an event. I didn't even say likely, but you cannot ignore that fact that it is a possibility.
Better known as 318230.
which one of them was having sex with the monkeys?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Why would it "wipe out the bulk of the human race"? We encounter new viruses every year and our immune systems adapt. The workers in question didn't die either. How do you make the leap from a simple virus in an ape jumping to a few isolated humans to it wiping out the human race? Been watching too many movies? How would this be different than say, avian or swine flu? Somehow because it comes from an ape suddenly we're all doomed? Grow up.
Though I agree this particular virus is not a serious threat, I would like for you to imagine for a moment the consequences of HIV were it an airborne pathogen. There is no cure, and we have not developed a resistance for it; Much like Herpes.
Great Caution MUST be exercised when dealing with infectious agents. If you do not think an entire species can be wiped out quickly by a single parasite I would like you to purchase an American Chestnut for "roasting over an open fire." Jack frost is not the only one who is nipping at your nose -- Ask the Native Americans about foreign diseases.
There are many viruses that other species have become resistant towards, and that we have no resistance against. Viruses mutate, and that their battle to survive within their hosts can make them more vicious. Some viruses are terminally incurable. Some diseases now spreading among humans initially only infected other species. Some diseases cause the extinction of a species.
Your chauvinism is the illogical product of an ignorant mind.
If you completely disregard the cautionary warning or fail to grasp the severity of the implications GP alluded to, or if you think that monkeys were a critical component in their statement, then you are truly a fool.
While you keep your head buried firmly in the sand, please take this opportunity to study the fossil record found therein which contains many extinct species; Some of which are extinct because of other lifeforms...
Note: Part of growing up is realizing that you can not know everything, thus it is important to heed others; Another part is being respectful. Clearly it is you who has not yet matured enough. The fact that you rationalized this immature act afterwards is even more proof of your own mental immaturity. Please, do not apply for a job handling bio-hazardous materials until you have attained maturity yourself.
Here is a bit of wisdom that may help you in your quest for mental maturity:
It is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Also: A fool learns from his mistakes; A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
I put it to you that a wiser man need not wait for foolish mistakes to occur at all.
I used to work there about 6 or 7 years ago back when one of my co-workers allegedly tried to steal a monkey although it was determined that the monkey must've escaped by crawling down the drain. If there's one thing a monkey is likely to do it's go up, not run for the middle of the floor and try going down a drain pipe. Everyone assumed that it was a monkey heist that went wrong.
If they started arming the security that was there then, that would be far more dangerous. He's likely to shoot himself in the face while scratching his head with the barrel Planet 9 style.
Doors are locked. Doors to the SIV monkeys are always locked. Keys are constantly being changed as people quit or lose their keys. I'm still close friends with someone who works there. Keys are still changed a lot.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
Well what did your mother get for fucking a retard?
That's right... You.
The Librarian would be very upset with you calling monkeys apes.
Not a sentence!
Ha, That little adenovirus is nothing an adjustment can't fix.
Ebola and its "gentle sister burn out so quickly that it is difficult for it to become a pandemic.
It's got out into the general population, has mutated, and we're all going to die. Ooops.
This is a blatant falsehood. Please do not insult monkeys and baboons, it is well accepted that politicians are invertebrates and have no recent relationships to primates.
We don't know what the circumstance of the initial simian to human transmission was. It is perfectly possible that it was nothing more suspicious than someone cutting themselves while butchering a monkey for food. Not as much fun as a conspiracy theory, nor speculation about beastiality. But it's perfectly possible.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
The flu of 2011! Hide the kids and women!