selfworth10
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Post by selfworth10 on Jun 8, 2020 18:23:25 GMT
Written in 1995 , this was such a stark warning and it was 100% based on science.
In 1995, Garrett wrote a 768-page tome entitled The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance.
The Coming Plague offered a stark warning that the encroachment of humans into every nook and cranny of the natural world—combined with modern conveniences such as air travel—had placed humanity directly in the crosshairs of a catastrophic global pandemic. It was only a matter of time, she told us.,,,,,,,,,
In the decades after it was published, bugs related to the common cold mutated to produce deadly respiratory diseases which emerged in Asia and the Middle East, respectively. In the first few weeks of the outbreaks that became known as SARS and MERS, it seemed that Garrett’s prediction of a global catastrophe might be upon us, but these would-be pandemics didn’t pan out.
The limited quarantines that worked to stem the spread of SARS and MERS were quickly forgotten, and a world that at one point seemed like it might be ready to take Garrett’s urgent warning seriously moved on to what it considered more pressing concerns.
The threat of a pandemic barely registered on the radar of public perception when COVID-19 showed up. Now it’s up to us to face the showdown that Laurie Garrett warned us was coming.
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selfworth10
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Post by selfworth10 on Jun 8, 2020 18:40:18 GMT
Corona is a fated opportunity. Fated in the sense that it was inevitable: we abused Mother Earth so much that she was forced to strike back in her own way. Perhaps our species deserves this, perhaps our planet needs it. If we imagine our humanity and the entire planet as a single being, we begin to see that the earth has long suffered from the disease of our relentless, near-sighted avarice.
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selfworth10
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Post by selfworth10 on Jun 8, 2020 18:53:55 GMT
The emergence of HIV, Ebola and any number of other rainforest agents appears to be a natural consequence of the ruin of the tropical biosphere. The emerging viruses are surfacing from ecologically damaged parts of the earth.... In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan and the United States, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinctions. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. The rainforest has its own defenses. The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recognized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick back in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Aug 7, 2020 5:06:28 GMT
The emergence of HIV, Ebola and any number of other rainforest agents appears to be a natural consequence of the ruin of the tropical biosphere. The emerging viruses are surfacing from ecologically damaged parts of the earth.... In a sense, the earth is mounting an immune response against the human species. It is beginning to react to the human parasite, the flooding infection of people, the dead spots of concrete all over the planet, the cancerous rot-outs in Europe, Japan and the United States, thick with replicating primates, the colonies enlarging and spreading and threatening to shock the biosphere with mass extinctions. Nature has interesting ways of balancing itself. The rainforest has its own defenses. The earth's immune system, so to speak, has recognized the presence of the human species and is starting to kick back in. The earth is attempting to rid itself of an infection by the human parasite. OMG, someone else who has read that book! I was beginning to think I was the only one! My favorite chapter is Microbe Magnets, that talks about the history of infectious disease and how it is more transmissible in populated areas. Another good chapter is about ThirdWorldization. I lost a family member to AIDS in 1993, and when I found that book, I read it over and over again. It is not an easy read; lots of technical terms. My copy has multiple dog-eared pages and notes written in the margins, especially on the subject of HIV, and how President Reagan withheld the research funding that the CDC needed. I became a Democrat because of that; I knew about it from the movie "And the Band Played On", written by Randy Shilts during the initial outbreak. The Coming Plague is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand this pandemic on a scientific level. That being said, I don't think SARS-CoV-2 is lethal enough to be that final plague, but if Ebola ever mutates to airborne transmission... we are toast. Not too many people realize that sera from a survivor was used for Lassa Fever in 1969, and previously by Karl Johnson during the Machupo outbreak in Bolivia. When they started using it for the current virus, I wasn't surprised. But pathogens so quickly mutate around whatever treatment is available that the use of sera, with its antibodies, eventually doesn't work. This new virus may mutate to a less-lethal form, as did H1N1 after the 1918-1919 Influenza pandemic, and a vaccine may be developed, but as we know from the flu, it never really burns out. This virus will be around for a while.
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Post by politicidal on Aug 7, 2020 15:04:13 GMT
I wouldn't call it a "fated opportunity". Kind of an oxymoron there. It could had been prevented or at least the severity of it. It simply didn't happen due to the lack of leadership-for the time being.
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Post by Sarge on Aug 11, 2020 4:14:22 GMT
There have been many plagues, there will be many more. Predicting a plague is like predicting a tornado in Kansas.
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Post by politicidal on Aug 11, 2020 16:08:58 GMT
There have been many plagues, there will be many more. Predicting a plague is like predicting a tornado in Kansas. Indeed. There’s one in Inner Mongolia right now as we speak. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2020 22:23:39 GMT
It is a masterpiece and to think that in 1995 it predicted what is happening in 2020
10?10
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2020 22:33:25 GMT
“Public health is not an ideology, religion, or political perspective—indeed, history demonstrates that whenever such forces interfere with or influence public health activities a general worsening of the populace’s well-being usually followed.”
like she directed it at TRUMP HIMSELF
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Post by Feologild Oakes on Oct 17, 2020 14:55:58 GMT
There have been many plagues, there will be many more. Predicting a plague is like predicting a tornado in Kansas. Yeah, its silly how some people pretty much act like this is the first pandemic in history.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Oct 17, 2020 23:30:12 GMT
There have been many plagues, there will be many more. Predicting a plague is like predicting a tornado in Kansas. Yeah, its silly how some people pretty much act like this is the first pandemic in history. I think that attitude exists because the last pandemic in the US was in 1918-1920, and 'tornadoes in Kansas' is something that happens every year or so. My mother, who was born in 1923, has no memory of a pandemic even being discussed: her family was more concerned with getting through the Great Depression. Whether or not SARS-CoV-2 is the coming plague scenario put forth in the book is an unknown still, at this time. There could be more lethal forms of this virus that develop, or it could, if a vaccine is found, be downgraded to the level of the flu or the common cold. Or another virus could emerge from a melting icecap or from the rainforests as they are decimated. My money was always on Ebola as the most unstoppable, especially if it went airborne, but just recently they have a vaccine either in trials or confirmed, I don't remember, and there are drugs that treat the disease. I truly thought that if it mutated to airborne transmission, that the human race was toast. I guess not. But unless global climate change, poverty and overpopulation is addressed in some sustainable way, the threat of a pandemic is always possible. Edit: I should remember my own posts.... imdb2.freeforums.net/thread/246261/first-approved-ebola-virus-treatment
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Post by Sarge on Oct 18, 2020 2:58:00 GMT
Last I read there are two confirmed strains of covid19, one much more dangerous. Viruses that kill the host faster than it can spread disease tend to lose out to weaker forms of the virus. That's what happened with the Spanish Flu, the deadliest strain eventually burned itself out and weaker strains stuck around and mutated. I've read that the annual flues are descendants of the Spanish Flu although I haven't really looked into it.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Oct 19, 2020 5:41:36 GMT
Last I read there are two confirmed strains of covid19, one much more dangerous. Viruses that kill the host faster than it can spread disease tend to lose out to weaker forms of the virus. That's what happened with the Spanish Flu, the deadliest strain eventually burned itself out and weaker strains stuck around and mutated. I've read that the annual flues are descendants of the Spanish Flu although I haven't really looked into it. You are correct, one strain of seasonal flu is H1N1, but it is much less virulent than it was. And it is usually targeted by the combination vaccine, along with other strains that might be prevalent. I don't know who decides which strains will be targeted in the vaccine; probably someone at the CDC. The deadlier strain of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic also, it is postulated, triggered cytokine storms, where the immune system went into overdrive and attacked healthy cells. I read that a person could get on a trolley to go home from work feeling fine and be dead by the time they reached home.
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Post by Prime etc. on Oct 28, 2020 19:42:12 GMT
I suspect if we had a nice foreign war right now all the people hand wringing about the flu would be distracted.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Oct 29, 2020 15:36:55 GMT
I suspect if we had a nice foreign war right now all the people hand wringing about the flu would be distracted. Ummm, no, a war at this time would allow the virus to amplify exponentially and affect a lot more humans. This is precisely what happened during WWI and the "Spanish" Flu pandemic. It took years before science even could see the virus in a lab, and go forth with a vaccine. I will stop wearing a mask and social distancing when a reliable vaccine has been vetted and stamped with the science community's approval
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Nov 11, 2020 21:46:42 GMT
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Post by permutojoe on Nov 13, 2020 5:21:42 GMT
Yeah, its silly how some people pretty much act like this is the first pandemic in history. , and 'tornadoes in Kansas' is something that happens every year or so. My mother, who was born in 1923, has no memory of a pandemic even being discussed: her family was more concerned with getting through the Great Depression. Whether or not SARS-CoV-2 is the coming plague scenario put forth in the book is an unknown still, at this time. There could be more lethal forms of this virus that develop, or it could, if a vaccine is found, be downgraded to the level of the flu or the common cold. Or another virus could emerge from a melting icecap or from the rainforests as they are decimated. My money was always on Ebola as the most unstoppable, especially if it went airborne, but just recently they have a vaccine either in trials or confirmed, I don't remember, and there are drugs that treat the disease. I truly thought that if it mutated to airborne transmission, that the human race was toast. I guess not. But unless global climate change, poverty and overpopulation is addressed in some sustainable way, the threat of a pandemic is always possible. Edit: I should remember my own posts.... IMDB2.freeforums.net/thread/246261/first-approved-ebola-virus-treatment Wasn't that right around when the industrial revolution had picked up full steam?
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Nov 15, 2020 3:47:19 GMT
I think that attitude exists because the last pandemic in the US was in 1918-1920, and 'tornadoes in Kansas' is something that happens every year or so. My mother, who was born in 1923, has no memory of a pandemic even being discussed: her family was more concerned with getting through the Great Depression. Whether or not SARS-CoV-2 is the coming plague scenario put forth in the book is an unknown still, at this time. There could be more lethal forms of this virus that develop, or it could, if a vaccine is found, be downgraded to the level of the flu or the common cold. Or another virus could emerge from a melting icecap or from the rainforests as they are decimated. My money was always on Ebola as the most unstoppable, especially if it went airborne, but just recently they have a vaccine either in trials or confirmed, I don't remember, and there are drugs that treat the disease. I truly thought that if it mutated to airborne transmission, that the human race was toast. I guess not. But unless global climate change, poverty and overpopulation is addressed in some sustainable way, the threat of a pandemic is always possible. Edit: I should remember my own posts.... IMDB2.freeforums.net/thread/246261/first-approved-ebola-virus-treatment Wasn't that right around when the industrial revolution had picked up full steam? Full steam, great pun! From: www.britannica.com/event/Industrial-RevolutionOne of the sociological consequences of the Industrial Revolution was the growth of cities, which are petri dishes for germs. The 1918-1919 pandemic spread more easily in cities, and during WWI in battle. But plagues have always been with us, since humans started to form tribes or groups. Back in Europe, tuberculosis spread this way when people shared air in a house that was boarded up to retain heat. TB could float around the room for hours; no one opened windows in the winter. Close contact with other humans that have the disease is favorable to the spread of the disease, as we are seeing now with SARS-CoV-2.
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