Horse Slaughter Revisited

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I prefer to think they're not so much "dirty" as "similar" (though yes, they are awfully messy. So are we, though). In fact, the main theory on AIDS is that it hopped from primates to people, isn't that right? And the primate version is relatively harmless to primates? Or is my info years out of date?

It is indeed, you are not out of date. It is also clear that close human contact on a continual basis with pigs and birds has led to some viruses that infect humans and the aforementioned animals. The swine flu and now these crazy bird viruses are thought to occur because of the dirty close exposure occuring on a massive level in Asia. Actually, its pretty clear this is what has happened. So the relatives dont have to be all that close, just vertebrates.

If you had a giant toad farm, in which you were very intimately associated with the beasts and so were all of your 100's of employees (Your are the big fish in Toad farming). And hundreds of thousands of people also had toad farms, toads being big business dont ya know, we could have an amphibian virus that would cross genetic lines because we have a lot in common with vertebrates in general. So a little contact with close relatives, or massive contact with more distance relatives seems to be the trick.

If you do decide to raise jellyfish instead of toads, I think we are safe, as jellyfish are very distantly related. And if you find a way to have close contact with jellyfish on a continual basis, you must be related to that fella that put himself in that round aquarium for a week or so. As a final example, I have yet to hear of cases of Pecan farmers contracting a Pecan tree viruses using the same reasoning. Even if the farmers scrambled around in the trees like spider monkeys. Which brings us full turn. And I thank you.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by pgardn

It is indeed, you are not out of date. It is also clear that close human contact on a continual basis with pigs and birds has led to some viruses that infect humans and the aforementioned animals. The swine flu and now these crazy bird viruses are thought to occur because of the dirty close exposure occuring on a massive level in Asia. Actually, its pretty clear this is what has happened. So the relatives dont have to be all that close, just vertebrates.

If you had a giant toad farm, in which you were very intimately associated with the beasts and so were all of your 100's of employees (Your are the big fish in Toad farming). And hundreds of thousands of people also had toad farms, toads being big business dont ya know, we could have an amphibian virus that would cross genetic lines because we have a lot in common with vertebrates in general. So a little contact with close relatives, or massive contact with more distance relatives seems to be the trick.

If you do decide to raise jellyfish instead of toads, I think we are safe, as jellyfish are very distantly related. And if you find a way to have close contact with jellyfish on a continual basis, you must be related to that fella that put himself in that round aquarium for a week or so. As a final example, I have yet to hear of cases of Pecan farmers contracting a Pecan tree viruses using the same reasoning. Even if the farmers scrambled around in the trees like spider monkeys. Which brings us full turn. And I thank you.

One of the actors here at the zoo some years back was a freelance veterinarian, and he always said vertebrates were all pretty similar, and if within the same class, like mammals, we're all REALLY similar. He was great at on-the-spot diagnoses for the actors' ailments! And usually right.

The Spanish Influenza was a pig virus that hopped to humans. My great-great grandfather died of it.

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

The Spanish Influenza was a pig virus that hopped to humans. My great-great grandfather died of it.

Your grandfather and about 70 million other people. Now here is what is interesting about that particular strain now that we actually know its genetics. It killed healthy people as well as the young and old, which WAS a very scary fact.

However...

This is neat. We have acutally determined that this flu virus killed people by causing an autoimmune reaction. It directed the bodies defense system to attack itself, kinda of like the disease Lupus. And we also know how to stop this reaction from occuring in the case of this old flu virus. So if one of these particular strains arose again, there are some drug companies that would make big money off of the reagents that stop this autoimmune response. And the bottom line is it would probably not kill near as many healthy individuals or more susceptable folks.