Re:Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spr...
by A4ET8a8uTh0 on Saturday February 01, 2020 @12:29AM
(#22208887)
I am not sure I agree completely. Yes, the panic they induce ( and that media happily augment ) is in itself dangerous, but.. well, weaponized ebola has apparently been in existence for a while. What makes you think progress was not made since then to.. add new traits to existing strains?
I hate to say anything more, because we would easily move into wild speculation territory.
Re:Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spr...
by Fomite on Saturday February 01, 2020 @06:31PM
(#22213981)
Agreed. I worked on biodefense stuff for awhile, and my usual argument was that bioweapons are at best panic and disruption.
But this was mostly to address the terminal version of this particular rumor, which I've also encountered on social media.
Bioweapons aren't all that effective in general for the reasons seen here: they're too slowly acting, to easy to treat, and not as lethal as, say, chemical weapons (which are also not that effective as weapons). Biological weapons are most dangerous as terror weapons.