Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Friday October 25 2019, @04:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the slow-and-steady dept.

'Milestone' in polio eradication achieved

The second of three forms of the polio virus has been eradicated, experts have announced.

There are three types of the wild polio virus, which, while scientifically different, cause the same symptoms, including paralysis or even death,

The world was declared free of type 2 four years ago - and now the World Health Organization has said type 3 has also been eradicated.

But type 1 is still circulating in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

See also:
Two Strains of Polio Are Gone, but the End of the Disease Is Still Far Off

Related:
'What the hell is going on?' Polio Cases are Vanishing in Pakistan, Yet the Virus Won't go Away
Polio Outbreak in Papua New Guinea
The End Of Guinea Worm Was Just Around the Corner. Not Anymore


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 25 2019, @11:10PM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday October 25 2019, @11:10PM (#911903) Journal

    You won't need lab stockpiles for reemergence in the future:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox#Post-eradication [wikipedia.org]

    In 2017, Canadian scientists recreated an extinct horse pox virus to demonstrate that the smallpox virus can be recreated in a small lab at a cost of about $100,000, by a team of scientists without specialist knowledge. This makes the retention controversy moot since the virus can be easily recreated even if all samples are destroyed. Although the scientists performed the research to help development of new vaccines as well as trace smallpox's history, the possibility of the techniques being used for nefarious purposes was immediately recognized, raising questions on dual use research and regulations.

    Fast forward a couple of decades, and if the genome sequence or a similar genome sequence is available, it could be recreated. Probably with less money, people, and expertise.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday October 25 2019, @11:19PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday October 25 2019, @11:19PM (#911909) Journal
  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday October 26 2019, @12:29AM (1 child)

    by Immerman (3985) on Saturday October 26 2019, @12:29AM (#911932)

    True, with the huge benefit that you could then make a much stronger argument for eradicating the lab stockpiles, and drastically reduce the chance of accidental outbreak.It makes it increasingly easy to weponize it of course but there's way better things to weaponize - I mean we know how to make the flu more contagious and 100% lethal(at least in rats)

    At least for viruses-based diseases. I'm pretty sure you need only infect a suitable host cell with viral DNA to get new viruses. Bacteria are a lot less straightforward, to say nothing of parasites. The best you could do with them is some sort of DNA-transplant hybrid into some related organisms cells. Maybe the DNA would totally suborn the cell, but we really have no idea just how much evolutionary information might be encoded in the internal mechanisms of the cell.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 26 2019, @02:55AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday October 26 2019, @02:55AM (#911963) Journal

      Maybe we could make the opposite argument. If digital sequences can be used to recreate any disease, we should have the CDC continuously studying the real thing and working on developing new vaccines. Accidents can happen but the people doing that work are closely monitored to say the least. And you could use more robotic arms and stuff that wasn't available during the Cold War.

      Parasites are obviously (?) a no-go for would-be bioturrists, but I'm feeling good about bacteria. Maybe have it infect a human-on-a-chip or something for testing, and self-infection for deployment.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]