This post is not going to make you feel good. I'm rather sick myself for even telling you about this.
I’m also not trying to be alarmist and add to the ubiquitous stress and terror that we already see in the USA but there is something that is bothering me really bad and I wanted to put it out there to get some honest feedback on.
The recent biological warfare attacks in the USA have of course altered everyone about the real potential danger of terrorism and how we collectively are vulnerable. When you take the time to really study biological warfare though, you can see that the current Anthrax attacks are far more bark than bite and only a small number of people have actually died from these attacks. There is however something much worse that could happen with releasing a biological pathogen that is like Smallpox or several other deadly viruses. If terrorists could effectively distribute such a virus, it would potentially cause millions of deaths in this country (and other countries when it spread) before a vaccine could be produced to incoulate all of us.
So, far none of this is new to anyone in the medical community that is cognizant of the dangers we are facing but what I think is potentially important is something that involves Jehovah’s Witnesses.
To effectively disperse a viral contagion the terrorist would ideal want a setting in which thousands of people would be constantly exposed for several hours at a time. Even better for reasons of spreading this disease, would be for these thousands of people to be very socially active and in turn spreading the disease as rapidly as possible to other people.
The expected method of attack is thought to be aboard an airliner as planes normally recycle the same air during the flight. These people would then arrive at their destination and would presumably meet other people, spreading the disease. Regardless, I don’t think this will be the method used simply because it would be fairly easy for the health department to track down each person on that plane and find all the people they had contact with, thus limiting the spread of the viral pathogen. On top of this, too much security now at airports. Many people could still die if they did this, but it would hopefully be controllable.
What would be much more horrific though, is if the same conditions (recycled air, continuous exposure of thousands of people) were met on a larger scale. You might be thinking that such an event might be like an outdoor event like a baseball or football game, and you would be getting warm…however the worst possible scenario I can think of is this…
…they would target an assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Simply by quickly squirting a concentrated liquid viral solution on the outside air conditioning or heating vents of an assembly hall, the microbes would be sucked inside and fill the air and contaminate every person inside. They would all be breathing that air for hours at a time. The viral particles that landed on their hands, would soon find their way inside these doomed Witnesses when they touched their faces with their hands, etc. Even worse, depending upon the incubation period for the virus, these tens of thousands of Witnesses would be meeting not only other Witnesses but family, coworkers, going door-to-door…it would be a terrorists dream come true.If such an outbreak took place, there would be no master list that the authorities could use to track down all these people. They might make an appeal to the Society to have each person at such a convention immediately go to a hospital but Witnesses are so paranoid they would think this is the beginning of the Great Tribulation and refuse to cooperate. It would not only be a nightmare, but could lead to unthinkable numbers of people dying.
Finally, you might take comfort in the fact that our government thinks nobody is going to sell the Taliban or other terrorists either Smallpox or some other virus that can be used for a weapon. Maybe this is true, but there is something I know for sure they are not telling you:it is easy to obtain both Smallpox and other dangerous pathogens from exhuming dead victims of these diseases. You see, many viruses can remain dormant for decades, even centuries. They survive both heat and freezing, just waiting to come alive again in another human or animal host. The only real deterrent to a terrorist is knowledge of how to culture the viruses. I’m horrified to think that anyone knowing microbiology would do something like this but look what we have with the Anthrax!
To sum things up…do you think Witnesses NEED TO BE BANNED NOW FROM ATTENDING ASSEMBLIES? This is not a case of freedom of religion but of saving lives. I hope I am very mistaken and there is no chance of this happening. Your thoughts please…
Skipper
"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings." - William Shakespeare