LEADING scientists are frantically working to develop a vaccine for the PLAGUE amid fears terrorists could kill millions if they weaponized the deadly bacteria.
The Medieval disease famously wiped out one third of Europe’s population in the 13th and 14th centuries in one of the most devastating pandemics in human history now known as the Black Death.
Today the disease – which has a 90 to 100 per cent mortality rate – has been classed by the World Health Organisation as a “re-emerging human pathogen”.
Dr Ashok Chopra, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas, is leading studies he hopes will develop a vaccine to counter all three strains.
He told The Sun Online: “We are specifically looking at pneumonic plague because the mortality rate associated with pneumonic plague is very high – almost 100 percent.”
Bubonic plague is the most commonly recognised strain of the disease – but the pnuemonic variant is much more virulent, and unlike bubonic, is spread via airborne particles.
“If terrorists use those organisms – they could utilise the bacteria. It could lead to mass deaths in a very short period of time. It would spread very, very quickly.
“Think about the bubonic plague in Europe in the 13th, 14th century. One third of the population was wiped out because of infection. That’s the typical scenario that you should think of.
“At the time it started with the bubonic plague and then it went to the pnuemonic plague and one third of the population died so the consequences could be enormous.”
His team’s lab research had so far shown promising results on rats – they were successfully vaccinated for five months against the disease.
The Department of Defence has also taken interest in his work and he hopes to receive additional government funding to begin testing on primates.
He said: “It’s very easy to grow, the bacteria, you don’t need any sophisticated equipment so if it falls into the wrong hands they can grow it and spread it easily.
Such a scenario is not unheard of. In the Second World War, Imperial Japan dropped thousands of plague-infested fleas on Chinese cities.
Developed at its covert “Unit 731” biological and chemical warfare facility, these attacks are believed to have killed around 400,000 civilians.
Dr Chopra added: “We had more cases of plague in 2015, 2016, after a very long period of time. The last case was in 1924 in LA… then it was 2015, 2016.
“So that is quite scary, that there may be more cases of natural infections in the area – so it is important not only for cases of terrorism.”
Currently there are antibiotics available to counter the disease, but Dr Chopra warned they are ineffective if not administered within a day of the onset of symptoms. With most doctors having little experience of the disease, it is unlikely it would be identified before it’s too late.
And given the symptoms are easily mistaken for that of a common flu, he said it was imperative a vaccine is developed.
“The window for antibiotic treatment is very narrow, so it is usually between 20 – 24 hours after the appearance of the symptoms of the disease. If you delay the treatment then you will still see people dying.
“Therefore it’s very important that we have a vaccine to be given to people, especially to military people who go overseas.”
A HISTORY OF PLAGUE AS A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON
Given the virality of the plague, history is littered with instances of it being used as a biological weapon.
Historical accounts from the far east describe it being used by the Mongols, Huns and rampaging Chinese armies to infect adversaries.
This involved catapaulting infected animals or corpses of plague victims into besieged cities, or dumping them into water supplies to infect enemies’ drinking water.
During the Second World War, Imperial Japan pioneered warheads filled with disease-ridden rats, mice, clothing and fleas which it dropped on Chinese civilians.
The disease had been developed at the so-called “Unit 731” facility in northeast China, which was the site of some of Japan’s most horrendous war crimes.
An estimated 250,000 people were subjected to experimentation at the site. Following the war, both the US and Russia harnessed the technology – much of which was based on Japanese and German research – to use plague as a weapon.
Studies have since revealed the USSR focused on developing “aerosolized” forms of the disease – thereby removing the need for it to be transmitted via infected fleas or animals.
And despite being a signatory to a convention banning the development of such weapons, Russia was found to still be creating the weapons as late as the 1990s when former USSR microbiologist Ken Alibek defected to the US.
This looks like an awesome opportunity to release the nastiest biowarfare agents in existence on the muslims, and then blame the (now exterminated) muslims for it happening.
Nobody will miss them.
Genius, pure genius.
Somehow it never occurs to them to keep terrorists, who are mostly MUSLIMS, out of our country.
This sounds to me like another cash cow that the PTB can use to get more funding for “safety and security”. First rule – scare the crap out of the sheeple, second rule: request “emergency funding” for this initiative by “leading scientists” ie: the same “leading scientists” that told us the Earth would be the big scorch if we did not devote Billions to Globull warming.
My understanding is that the plague was borne of poor drinking water treatment and lack of sewer facilities. In medieval Europe, garbage and human waste was routinely either dumped in water supplies (Thames River) or simply dumped out of buckets on to the streets. I am reasonably confident that we could avoid the plague by simply continuing to use good water and sewage management protocols. Yes, a nutjob could release a plague-like bacterium in to the water supply, however the virus would be quickly killed by the Chlorine and various other treatments used for community potable water supplies. If the Flint Michigan water supply has not spread the plague, I am reasonably confident that most cities / towns in modern America are safe. Gotta have something for the sheeple to be scared of, and CNN to make a headline from, right?
Islamic murder in the name of religion is the problem, however I suspect moving them in to our communities, letting them have their way with our daughters and allowing them to manifest their “religious beliefs” are a much bigger threat, and worthy of funding (the wall and tighter immigration enforcement) than pouring billions in to “plague research”.
Dude, you’re mixing bacteria and viruses in the same statement. You don’t know what you are saying.
The disease you are suggesting w/ sewers and drinking water is cholera.
Plague is a bacteria carried by rats and transmitted through flea bites.
“LEADING scientists are frantically working to develop a vaccine for the PLAGUE …” —–from the article
“The” plague? As if there’s only one plague?? They find a cure for ONE STRAIN of “the” plague …. and before you know it, there are a thousand mutations that don’t give a fuck about “the” cure.
Freed Debt Slave is correct …. just another cash cow.
That’s right. I’m a plague DENIER!
I’ll wait for the official denial to believe it.
Guess I’m into dark humor but as I read this I kept thinking that the average American is probably more worried about how white their teeth are.
That’s not dark humor, that’s cynicism. Dark humor would be if you said at least the SS fund will last longer.
Plague is a bacteria. We have a cure.
The weaponised variants (that the Russians, AND “The West” have developed), are resistant to all conventional agents. Sorry, you DON’T have a cure.
There was a LOT of money invested in perfecting aerosol delivery systems (dispersion, storage, product lifespan), and you better believe that any “Modern” country could VERY EASILY disseminate aerosolised Y. pestis in sufficient quantities to reliably swamp any Western medical system.
Cant wait to get my plague vaccine, lol- FU
No chance that this “vaccine” that attacks bacteria (vaccines as we know them are for viruses) could also in an unintended way attack the symbiotic bacteria in our body, gut, etc. to unknown effect in the future. Naw. No chance.
Same for the so-called “pneumonia” vaccine … pneumonia is a bacteria.
Ugh, such misinformation.
Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs. It can be viral or bacterial.
There is a vaccine for pneumococcal pneumonia, tetanus, cholera as well as some others. All bacteria.
Your Tetanus “vaccine” is actually an inactivated toxin (or Toxoid). Whilst there are a LOT of bacterial vaccines, the innate interstrain variability of many threat bacteria limits both efficacy (percent effectively immunised) and duration of protection. You see the same thing with the more variable viruses (e.g Influenza).
Unleashing a killer disease on the Muslims would be cruel. Why not just something to make them sterile?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/14/minnesota-health-officials-conceal-active-tb-high-school-six-weeks/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
Where I live (moving SOON!) here in Parker, Colorado, they have large numbers of prairie dogs living right in amongst the residential housing and business areas. They are along the bike paths, and mound dirt up on top of the sidewalks, and burrow in volleyball courts at apartment complexes.
With all the people moving here, I give it One or Two years max until an outbreak occurs.
Tuberculosis: Refugees Produce 29 Percent of Active Cases in New Hampshire
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/13/contagious-tuberculosis-tb-new-hampshire/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social