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 Or is my info years out of date?

It is indeed, you are not out of date.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.