Worth a ponder ...Bubonic plague a biological weapon???

January 20, 2009

- Kimberly Dawley

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 8:47 AM

Worth a ponder ...

Quiet Victory, Or Not?

I couldn't help but notice that the Sun is reporting today on a new twist to the WOT: "Deadliest weapon so far...the plague". The story then goes on to say, in part, that "At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease..."

But something about the story a bit further down into it caught my eye: “It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda.”

Hmmm...that sounds a little too 'hot' in epidemiological terms, unless it's some kind of lab-bred hybrid between one of the hemorrhagic fevers and plague, but even then 'hours'?

A quick check of my standard medical reference on such matters, Benenson's classic Control of Communicable Diseases In Man , records this about the 'black death'

"Incubation period - From 2 to 6 days in bubonic plague, 2 to 4 days in pneumonic plague; may be shorter, rarely longer.

And then here's the part which got me to wondering about the Sun article:

"Period of communicability - Bubonic plague is not directly transmitted from person to person except through terminal plague pneumonia. Fleas may remain infected for days or weeks or months under suitable conditions of temperature and humidity, or may clear themselves of infection.

So if it's plague it isn't the one that swept Europe in the Middle Ages; something new or something else. Worth a ponder.

http://www.urbansurvival.com/week.htm