The WELL: inkwell.vue.102: John Schwartz - Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe

#46: John Schwartz (jswatz) Fri 23 Mar 01 12:23

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 12:23:00 PST

Foot and Mouth will almost inevitably reach the US, where we call it Hoof and Mouth (cf. op cit Bill Cosby). It's very, very hard to contain.

I think that Mad Cow will show up here, too, and will cause a horrendous panic when it does. I don't think that we'll see many cases, despite the blending of meat in our food supply chain, but we'll eventually see isolated cases if for no other reason than CJD sometimes emerges spontaneously in nature, and not-so-good slaughterhouses use methods that allow centralnervous tissue to come into contact with the meat.

I think of these as very small amounts of absolute risk of a very horrible outcome--you know, like flying in an airplane. So I continue to eat beef. [Read entire topic]

#45: Linda Castellani (castle) Fri 23 Mar 01 12:13

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 12:13:00 PST

Am I simply being too pessimistic if I think it's inevitable that both foot and mouth and mad cow will reach our shores AND have a similar economic impact? [Read entire topic]

#44: Eric Mankin (carapace) Fri 23 Mar 01 11:22

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 11:22:00 PST

You don't have to make people sick to have a highly useful weapon. In terms of economic impact, this is going to be unbelievably costly in Britain. And it's almost untraceable. [Read entire topic]

#43: John Henry, the (steeldrv) Fri 23 Mar 01 09:37

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 09:37:00 PST

It also tells us that the incubation period is much shorter for hoof & mouth disease. Our attention span is ,um, rather limited. [Read entire topic]

#42: John Schwartz (jswatz) Fri 23 Mar 01 08:55

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 08:55:00 PST

<Rafeco>, it IS a great question. It's not a world of villages but a world of free travel, with diseases moving around at jetspeed. It's interesting to compare the huge reaction to foot in mouth now with the, pardon the expression, foot dragging that accompanied the emergence of Mad Cow. Remember: Mad Cow, transmitted as nv Kreutzfeld Jakob disease, actually kills people. Foot in Mouth sickens animals and has to be contained, but presents little risk for people. But the reaction has been a near-panic.

What does this tell us? That things move fast. That outbreaks, now more than ever, cause panic. And that there are more vectors than ever for transmitting disease.

One of the chapters in our book raises the notion of bioterrorist using the food supply as a vector; in the scenario that begins the chapter, we lay out an e. coli outbreak via a central kitchen for a city's private schools.

That one creeped me out more than just about anything because it seemed so very easy. [Read entire topic]

#41: Infradibulated Gratility (ssol) Fri 23 Mar 01 08:30

Fri, 23 Mar 2001 08:30:00 PST

Using America's agribiz/fast food system as a vector? Death by McDonald's! Scary thought. [Read entire topic]

#40: Linda Castellani (castle) Thu 22 Mar 01 13:39

Thu, 22 Mar 2001 13:39:00 PST

Great question!! [Read entire topic]

#39: Rafe Colburn (rafeco) Thu 22 Mar 01 06:52

Thu, 22 Mar 2001 06:52:00 PST

I don't know if anyone is still around reading this topic, but I had a question.

What does the current outbreak of foot and mouth disease tell us about fast spreading contagions in present times? Are we learning anything about our preparedness for such outbreaks from the current crisis?

John, has anything surprised you about the outbreak or the response to it? [Read entire topic]

#38: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 12 Feb 01 14:58

Mon, 12 Feb 2001 14:58:00 PST

The pleasure was all mine! (Brrr) [Read entire topic]

#37: John Schwartz (jswatz) Mon 12 Feb 01 07:25

Mon, 12 Feb 2001 07:25:00 PST

Well, it's been a pleasure to chill you! [Read entire topic]