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Likelihood that a superbug or lethal virus could come from a landfill
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InWould an animal with a huge sack that could fill with a light gas like Helium be able to float in the sky?Completely antiviral resistant, possible?How could a weaponized gene therapy evade detection?Immortal bacteria apocalypseThe nynphomaniac diseaseIdentifying an engineered virusOdds of survivability when encountering new bacteria in Earth-like planet's atmosphere?How to spread a deadly virus to the entire world?Could a virus that just kills plants be the end of us all?How could a seemingly-harmless virus become deadly at a predetermined date and time?
$begingroup$
Landfills seem like disgusting, nasty places that could be breeding grounds for all sorts of viruses and bacteria. What is the likelihood that the next lethal superbug or virus (like Ebola) could originate there?
viruses bacteria
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
Landfills seem like disgusting, nasty places that could be breeding grounds for all sorts of viruses and bacteria. What is the likelihood that the next lethal superbug or virus (like Ebola) could originate there?
viruses bacteria
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
New contributor
bremen_matt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
Landfills seem like disgusting, nasty places that could be breeding grounds for all sorts of viruses and bacteria. What is the likelihood that the next lethal superbug or virus (like Ebola) could originate there?
viruses bacteria
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
New contributor
bremen_matt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
$endgroup$
Landfills seem like disgusting, nasty places that could be breeding grounds for all sorts of viruses and bacteria. What is the likelihood that the next lethal superbug or virus (like Ebola) could originate there?
viruses bacteria
viruses bacteria
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
New contributor
bremen_matt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
New contributor
bremen_matt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
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asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
asked 4 hours ago
bremen_mattbremen_matt
1193
1193
New contributor
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New contributor
bremen_matt is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Slim.
Superbugs seem to come in roughly two flavours... things resistant to treatment, and new diseases our immune systems aren't familiar with.
The former comes from places where large numbers of people get together and use antibiotics excessively and/or incorrectly. You end up with new flavours of old favourites, like totally drug resistant TB.
The latter are often zoonoses. The likes of ebola, HIV and swine flu are animal pathogens that jumped the species barrier and proved to be a little too effective in their new environments. You get novel zoonoses where people and animals spend a time together in unsanitary conditions.
Landfills describe neither of those things. Unless it is a waste dump for surplus and expired antibiotics, there's not much pressure on landfill microbes to develop and maintain drug resistance. Not too many exotic animals frequent landfills, and humans don't tend to hunt or farm there.
I'm not saying it is impossible but, y'know, there's not much reason to think it'll happen, and every reason to think there will instead be an outbreak of a new kind of flu or haemorrhagic fever or an old kind of disease suddenly becomes treatment resistant and goes on a bit of a spree instead. If you wanted ideas for somewhere else, I'd be looking at places that do cheap, massive-scale meat production.
(Also, viruses and bacteria get all the press, but there are other unpleasant things you can catch more and more easily these days. Rat lungworm, anyone?)
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Starfish Prime explained why the chance of superbugs developing in a landfill site are unlikely.
However that does not mean that a landfill site could not play a significant part in the development of a superbug.
If badly processed human or animal waste (e.g. from a hospital or farm) were being dumped into a poorly contained landfill site, such as a site where runoff was escaping into human water supplies, this could play a very significant part in the genesis of a superbug.
While the bug actually developed on the farm or in the hospital, as an animal disease or drug resistant strain, the landfill acts as a launching ground releasing the bug to huge numbers of victims.
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Did you know Mammoth tusks were found among illegal markets?
Global warming is uncovering large swathes of Siberia, where innumerable pieces of animal carcasses are decomposing.
All you need is for one of those fellas to get a bug.
They usually don't have good hygiene. Ton of hands touching the same sample and you also must take into account that poor families statistically bear more children.
So you have a possible source, a vulnerable population and the means to travel the globe as contraband.
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You could definitely make this the premise of a story.
- Third world abandoned laboratory is cleaned up by new government.
source
Bags of assorted mysterious stuff are sent to landfill with no processing or sterilization.
In landfill, bioengineered spores (anthrax? gangrene?) find new rodent hosts.
Landfill scavengers are exposed and bring disease back to favela.
It begins...
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
$endgroup$
add a comment |
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Slim.
Superbugs seem to come in roughly two flavours... things resistant to treatment, and new diseases our immune systems aren't familiar with.
The former comes from places where large numbers of people get together and use antibiotics excessively and/or incorrectly. You end up with new flavours of old favourites, like totally drug resistant TB.
The latter are often zoonoses. The likes of ebola, HIV and swine flu are animal pathogens that jumped the species barrier and proved to be a little too effective in their new environments. You get novel zoonoses where people and animals spend a time together in unsanitary conditions.
Landfills describe neither of those things. Unless it is a waste dump for surplus and expired antibiotics, there's not much pressure on landfill microbes to develop and maintain drug resistance. Not too many exotic animals frequent landfills, and humans don't tend to hunt or farm there.
I'm not saying it is impossible but, y'know, there's not much reason to think it'll happen, and every reason to think there will instead be an outbreak of a new kind of flu or haemorrhagic fever or an old kind of disease suddenly becomes treatment resistant and goes on a bit of a spree instead. If you wanted ideas for somewhere else, I'd be looking at places that do cheap, massive-scale meat production.
(Also, viruses and bacteria get all the press, but there are other unpleasant things you can catch more and more easily these days. Rat lungworm, anyone?)
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Slim.
Superbugs seem to come in roughly two flavours... things resistant to treatment, and new diseases our immune systems aren't familiar with.
The former comes from places where large numbers of people get together and use antibiotics excessively and/or incorrectly. You end up with new flavours of old favourites, like totally drug resistant TB.
The latter are often zoonoses. The likes of ebola, HIV and swine flu are animal pathogens that jumped the species barrier and proved to be a little too effective in their new environments. You get novel zoonoses where people and animals spend a time together in unsanitary conditions.
Landfills describe neither of those things. Unless it is a waste dump for surplus and expired antibiotics, there's not much pressure on landfill microbes to develop and maintain drug resistance. Not too many exotic animals frequent landfills, and humans don't tend to hunt or farm there.
I'm not saying it is impossible but, y'know, there's not much reason to think it'll happen, and every reason to think there will instead be an outbreak of a new kind of flu or haemorrhagic fever or an old kind of disease suddenly becomes treatment resistant and goes on a bit of a spree instead. If you wanted ideas for somewhere else, I'd be looking at places that do cheap, massive-scale meat production.
(Also, viruses and bacteria get all the press, but there are other unpleasant things you can catch more and more easily these days. Rat lungworm, anyone?)
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Slim.
Superbugs seem to come in roughly two flavours... things resistant to treatment, and new diseases our immune systems aren't familiar with.
The former comes from places where large numbers of people get together and use antibiotics excessively and/or incorrectly. You end up with new flavours of old favourites, like totally drug resistant TB.
The latter are often zoonoses. The likes of ebola, HIV and swine flu are animal pathogens that jumped the species barrier and proved to be a little too effective in their new environments. You get novel zoonoses where people and animals spend a time together in unsanitary conditions.
Landfills describe neither of those things. Unless it is a waste dump for surplus and expired antibiotics, there's not much pressure on landfill microbes to develop and maintain drug resistance. Not too many exotic animals frequent landfills, and humans don't tend to hunt or farm there.
I'm not saying it is impossible but, y'know, there's not much reason to think it'll happen, and every reason to think there will instead be an outbreak of a new kind of flu or haemorrhagic fever or an old kind of disease suddenly becomes treatment resistant and goes on a bit of a spree instead. If you wanted ideas for somewhere else, I'd be looking at places that do cheap, massive-scale meat production.
(Also, viruses and bacteria get all the press, but there are other unpleasant things you can catch more and more easily these days. Rat lungworm, anyone?)
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
$endgroup$
Slim.
Superbugs seem to come in roughly two flavours... things resistant to treatment, and new diseases our immune systems aren't familiar with.
The former comes from places where large numbers of people get together and use antibiotics excessively and/or incorrectly. You end up with new flavours of old favourites, like totally drug resistant TB.
The latter are often zoonoses. The likes of ebola, HIV and swine flu are animal pathogens that jumped the species barrier and proved to be a little too effective in their new environments. You get novel zoonoses where people and animals spend a time together in unsanitary conditions.
Landfills describe neither of those things. Unless it is a waste dump for surplus and expired antibiotics, there's not much pressure on landfill microbes to develop and maintain drug resistance. Not too many exotic animals frequent landfills, and humans don't tend to hunt or farm there.
I'm not saying it is impossible but, y'know, there's not much reason to think it'll happen, and every reason to think there will instead be an outbreak of a new kind of flu or haemorrhagic fever or an old kind of disease suddenly becomes treatment resistant and goes on a bit of a spree instead. If you wanted ideas for somewhere else, I'd be looking at places that do cheap, massive-scale meat production.
(Also, viruses and bacteria get all the press, but there are other unpleasant things you can catch more and more easily these days. Rat lungworm, anyone?)
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
answered 3 hours ago
Starfish PrimeStarfish Prime
1,04112
1,04112
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
In Germany, we also have special recycling just for food waste. I imagine that a sick person eats an apple, puts the core in this recycling, and then when this infected apple meets the apple core of another person infected with some fun thing, these two viruses combine to make something really scary. Plausible?
$endgroup$
– bremen_matt
3 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt the problem is that you need something that is capable of infecting humans and spending a long time in an environment that doesn't have a lot of humans in, but does have a lot of other microbes that are better suited to survival there and that are consuming all the resources. Viruses are pretty much right out, because they have a fairly limited lifespan outside of a human. Viruses are also ill-suited to exchange DNA outside of a human. Sewage treatment facilities might be a good place to breed antibiotic resistant enterobacteria, though.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@bremen_matt and whilst I'm always happy to be marked as the official accepted answer, it is generally considered best to wait 24-48 hours before doing so because there's a chance that someone in another timezone or who is at work may happen by later and give a much better answer. Your question has only been up 30 minutes so far ;-)
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
3 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Don't click that lungworm link. Excuse me while I go wash my vegetables some more.
$endgroup$
– Innovine
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
This answer deserves a bounty.
$endgroup$
– Renan
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Starfish Prime explained why the chance of superbugs developing in a landfill site are unlikely.
However that does not mean that a landfill site could not play a significant part in the development of a superbug.
If badly processed human or animal waste (e.g. from a hospital or farm) were being dumped into a poorly contained landfill site, such as a site where runoff was escaping into human water supplies, this could play a very significant part in the genesis of a superbug.
While the bug actually developed on the farm or in the hospital, as an animal disease or drug resistant strain, the landfill acts as a launching ground releasing the bug to huge numbers of victims.
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Starfish Prime explained why the chance of superbugs developing in a landfill site are unlikely.
However that does not mean that a landfill site could not play a significant part in the development of a superbug.
If badly processed human or animal waste (e.g. from a hospital or farm) were being dumped into a poorly contained landfill site, such as a site where runoff was escaping into human water supplies, this could play a very significant part in the genesis of a superbug.
While the bug actually developed on the farm or in the hospital, as an animal disease or drug resistant strain, the landfill acts as a launching ground releasing the bug to huge numbers of victims.
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Starfish Prime explained why the chance of superbugs developing in a landfill site are unlikely.
However that does not mean that a landfill site could not play a significant part in the development of a superbug.
If badly processed human or animal waste (e.g. from a hospital or farm) were being dumped into a poorly contained landfill site, such as a site where runoff was escaping into human water supplies, this could play a very significant part in the genesis of a superbug.
While the bug actually developed on the farm or in the hospital, as an animal disease or drug resistant strain, the landfill acts as a launching ground releasing the bug to huge numbers of victims.
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
$endgroup$
Starfish Prime explained why the chance of superbugs developing in a landfill site are unlikely.
However that does not mean that a landfill site could not play a significant part in the development of a superbug.
If badly processed human or animal waste (e.g. from a hospital or farm) were being dumped into a poorly contained landfill site, such as a site where runoff was escaping into human water supplies, this could play a very significant part in the genesis of a superbug.
While the bug actually developed on the farm or in the hospital, as an animal disease or drug resistant strain, the landfill acts as a launching ground releasing the bug to huge numbers of victims.
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
answered 3 hours ago
BenBen
610216
610216
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
$begingroup$
This was my first thought, clinical waste that's not gotten incinerated as it should be - maybe in a third world country or a recession or profit driven business in a first world one that won't pay for safe practices. There are people in old-folks-homes who've been on antibiotics for years incubating these things. +1
$endgroup$
– Agrajag
20 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Did you know Mammoth tusks were found among illegal markets?
Global warming is uncovering large swathes of Siberia, where innumerable pieces of animal carcasses are decomposing.
All you need is for one of those fellas to get a bug.
They usually don't have good hygiene. Ton of hands touching the same sample and you also must take into account that poor families statistically bear more children.
So you have a possible source, a vulnerable population and the means to travel the globe as contraband.
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Did you know Mammoth tusks were found among illegal markets?
Global warming is uncovering large swathes of Siberia, where innumerable pieces of animal carcasses are decomposing.
All you need is for one of those fellas to get a bug.
They usually don't have good hygiene. Ton of hands touching the same sample and you also must take into account that poor families statistically bear more children.
So you have a possible source, a vulnerable population and the means to travel the globe as contraband.
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Did you know Mammoth tusks were found among illegal markets?
Global warming is uncovering large swathes of Siberia, where innumerable pieces of animal carcasses are decomposing.
All you need is for one of those fellas to get a bug.
They usually don't have good hygiene. Ton of hands touching the same sample and you also must take into account that poor families statistically bear more children.
So you have a possible source, a vulnerable population and the means to travel the globe as contraband.
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
$endgroup$
Did you know Mammoth tusks were found among illegal markets?
Global warming is uncovering large swathes of Siberia, where innumerable pieces of animal carcasses are decomposing.
All you need is for one of those fellas to get a bug.
They usually don't have good hygiene. Ton of hands touching the same sample and you also must take into account that poor families statistically bear more children.
So you have a possible source, a vulnerable population and the means to travel the globe as contraband.
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
answered 2 hours ago
Gustavo AlmeidaGustavo Almeida
1,516112
1,516112
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Eh, I'm not worried about ancient diseases being defrosted. The microbes that didn't get frozen have spent thousands upon thousands of years fighting against each other and immune systems and eventually medical treatments that get better all the time. The mammoth germs have lost their principal host, possibly forever. They're like vikings being unfrozen in the present day; dangerous perhaps, but not much good against modern defences.
$endgroup$
– Starfish Prime
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Yes and no. There are plenty of species which changes relatively few times in all that timespan. Some birds may be close to their ancestors, such the case of aligators, which havn't changed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
$endgroup$
– Gustavo Almeida
2 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You could definitely make this the premise of a story.
- Third world abandoned laboratory is cleaned up by new government.
source
Bags of assorted mysterious stuff are sent to landfill with no processing or sterilization.
In landfill, bioengineered spores (anthrax? gangrene?) find new rodent hosts.
Landfill scavengers are exposed and bring disease back to favela.
It begins...
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You could definitely make this the premise of a story.
- Third world abandoned laboratory is cleaned up by new government.
source
Bags of assorted mysterious stuff are sent to landfill with no processing or sterilization.
In landfill, bioengineered spores (anthrax? gangrene?) find new rodent hosts.
Landfill scavengers are exposed and bring disease back to favela.
It begins...
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
You could definitely make this the premise of a story.
- Third world abandoned laboratory is cleaned up by new government.
source
Bags of assorted mysterious stuff are sent to landfill with no processing or sterilization.
In landfill, bioengineered spores (anthrax? gangrene?) find new rodent hosts.
Landfill scavengers are exposed and bring disease back to favela.
It begins...
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
$endgroup$
You could definitely make this the premise of a story.
- Third world abandoned laboratory is cleaned up by new government.
source
Bags of assorted mysterious stuff are sent to landfill with no processing or sterilization.
In landfill, bioengineered spores (anthrax? gangrene?) find new rodent hosts.
Landfill scavengers are exposed and bring disease back to favela.
It begins...
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
answered 1 hour ago
WillkWillk
117k28221489
117k28221489
add a comment |
add a comment |
bremen_matt is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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