I really don't know what to make of this. The mutation they are describing is stated in the article itself to be nearly impossible, and the mention of zombies here is just bizarre. I also have no idea what forum to put this in.
Is this someone's idea of a joke?
Mutant rabies, flu viruses could lead to havoc
June 26, 2011 DC Hyderabad .aaa.Shareemailprint..June 25: The rabies season has just receded. And it’s time now for the human influenza or common cold to make our lives miserable. Rabies and the common cold, though their effects on our health are very different, are both caused by viruses and there is no known medical cure for either. While the common cold subsides within a week without causing much harm, rabies has always proved to be lethal.
Of late, with rabies and influenza, particularly the type of influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, creating panic in the state, scientists took time off to imagine the sort of scenario we see in those Hollywood flicks in which viruses mutate or hybridise to emerge as dangerous pathogens. The question they are now asking is: what happens if rabies and the influenza viruses exchange their genetic make-up and emerge as a new hybrid strain that has the properties of both rabies and flu pathogens?
The answer is quite chilling, even though it’s improbable that this can happen. The new virus will create havoc, killing people everywhere and turning cities into graveyards. It could do this because the rabies virus would become air-borne (like the influenza virus), spreading through the air, unlike at present where it is spread through the bite of a rabid dog. “Rabies has been under check thanks to the stray dog control programmes by local municipal bodies, but if the rabies virus gets the traits of human influenza virus, which is capable of spreading through the air, nothing will stop it. But it is unlikely to happen though some scientists in the US believe otherwise,” says geneticist Dr M.N. Khaja.
And since the “air-borne” rabies virus will find its way into the body either through the mouth or nose, death will be instantaneous or within a couple of days. “Unlike other pathogens that travel through blood or lymph, the rabies virus makes its way to the brain through the nerves. The nearer the route of infection of the rabies virus to the brain, the faster the death,” adds veterinary surgeon Dr Muralidhar.
Some scientists visualise a zombie like situation in the world of humans if the rabies and human influenza viruses undergo hybridisation. The rabies virus, when mutated with the influenza virus, will behave like a zombie, with uncontrolled madness. The infected humans too will behave like zombies, according to a National Geographic report. To support its claim, the report says scientists in northern Arizona have found that animals, particularly skunks and foxes, are actually sprea-ding the virus through socialisation, that is, through the aerial route. Just by moving together with an infected animal, a healthy animal may be infected with the air-borne virus, not necessarily through a bite.
“What is unusual is that this new strain of rabies appears to have mutated so that foxes and skunks are now able to pass the virus on to their kin — not just through biting and scratching but through simple socialising, as humans might spread a flu,” says the report in National Geographic News.
In the Indian scenario, wild animals are spreading the rabies virus to domestic animals like dogs. Whether the virus is transmitted from wild animals to stray dogs through bites or socialisation is yet to be studied.
But since the rabies and flu viruses have different genetic make-up, hybridisation between the two is theoretically impossible. But things can go awry when man meddles with natural laws, as he is prone to do. New pathogens and new diseases have evolved in the recent past and what once formed part of science fiction has now become a reality. Let’s hope, such a deadly strain with a combination of rabies and flu traits never becomes a reality.
.
Is this someone's idea of a joke?
Mutant rabies, flu viruses could lead to havoc
June 26, 2011 DC Hyderabad .aaa.Shareemailprint..June 25: The rabies season has just receded. And it’s time now for the human influenza or common cold to make our lives miserable. Rabies and the common cold, though their effects on our health are very different, are both caused by viruses and there is no known medical cure for either. While the common cold subsides within a week without causing much harm, rabies has always proved to be lethal.
Of late, with rabies and influenza, particularly the type of influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, creating panic in the state, scientists took time off to imagine the sort of scenario we see in those Hollywood flicks in which viruses mutate or hybridise to emerge as dangerous pathogens. The question they are now asking is: what happens if rabies and the influenza viruses exchange their genetic make-up and emerge as a new hybrid strain that has the properties of both rabies and flu pathogens?
The answer is quite chilling, even though it’s improbable that this can happen. The new virus will create havoc, killing people everywhere and turning cities into graveyards. It could do this because the rabies virus would become air-borne (like the influenza virus), spreading through the air, unlike at present where it is spread through the bite of a rabid dog. “Rabies has been under check thanks to the stray dog control programmes by local municipal bodies, but if the rabies virus gets the traits of human influenza virus, which is capable of spreading through the air, nothing will stop it. But it is unlikely to happen though some scientists in the US believe otherwise,” says geneticist Dr M.N. Khaja.
And since the “air-borne” rabies virus will find its way into the body either through the mouth or nose, death will be instantaneous or within a couple of days. “Unlike other pathogens that travel through blood or lymph, the rabies virus makes its way to the brain through the nerves. The nearer the route of infection of the rabies virus to the brain, the faster the death,” adds veterinary surgeon Dr Muralidhar.
Some scientists visualise a zombie like situation in the world of humans if the rabies and human influenza viruses undergo hybridisation. The rabies virus, when mutated with the influenza virus, will behave like a zombie, with uncontrolled madness. The infected humans too will behave like zombies, according to a National Geographic report. To support its claim, the report says scientists in northern Arizona have found that animals, particularly skunks and foxes, are actually sprea-ding the virus through socialisation, that is, through the aerial route. Just by moving together with an infected animal, a healthy animal may be infected with the air-borne virus, not necessarily through a bite.
“What is unusual is that this new strain of rabies appears to have mutated so that foxes and skunks are now able to pass the virus on to their kin — not just through biting and scratching but through simple socialising, as humans might spread a flu,” says the report in National Geographic News.
In the Indian scenario, wild animals are spreading the rabies virus to domestic animals like dogs. Whether the virus is transmitted from wild animals to stray dogs through bites or socialisation is yet to be studied.
But since the rabies and flu viruses have different genetic make-up, hybridisation between the two is theoretically impossible. But things can go awry when man meddles with natural laws, as he is prone to do. New pathogens and new diseases have evolved in the recent past and what once formed part of science fiction has now become a reality. Let’s hope, such a deadly strain with a combination of rabies and flu traits never becomes a reality.
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