Am I the only one who read the subject line and jumped to the conclusion that Wildest Bill was actually George W. Bush and that he ought to be asking his advisers instead of us?
BobT, I think you are missing my point, so I must not be making it very well 
A terrorist who had considered this possibility and made tentative plans to take advantage of such an outbreak had a 3-month long opportunity to put this sort of plan in action. Uganda would have been particularly convenient since it borders on Sudan, one of bin Laden’s erstwhile ‘supporters’ - it is likely some of his followers were in Sudan at the time of this outbreak.
It’s easier to spend two or more years finding and training pilots capable of flying 747’s that are also willing to crash them into buildings? And it’s a lot easier to carry a virus or bacteria hidden invisibly inside your body than it is to find and transport explosive materials. Remember that we are talking about disrupting the country and killing bunches of people - a widespread Ebola outbreak would not only have shut down travel within the US, it most likely would have resulted in an international quarantine to avoid spreading the disease to the rest of the world.
Yes, we are - once we identify the outbreak. How many hospitals and health care workers are going to assume that a seriously ill US citizen that has not traveled to any ‘hot spots’ recently is infected with something like Ebola? Especially if the initial cases are very widespread - it might take weeks to diagnose the disease and make a connection between a dead person in Miami and one in Chicago. Heck, rabies is a somewhat expected disease in the US, but it is seen so rarely by health care workers that diagnosis is usually made post-mortem. Do you expect better results with a disease that no one is expecting to see in the US?
Consider this scenario, which would have fit into the time frame of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda:
New Year’s Eve, Times Square, NYC. Thousands of people are thronging the sidewalks and streets to celebrate the turning of the year. Two men suddenly climb on top of a car and blows themselves to smithereens, wounding the people nearby and splattering about 50 or so with blood and body parts. People are running and screaming, bumping into other people and smearing them with blood, etc. Others are grabbing and holding each other, also spreading the contamination further. Policemen, firefighters, and paramedics rush to the scene - more contamination. Injured people are transported to hospitals for emergency treatment; more are treated for shock - the disease is spread to the hospital workers because standard precautions (basically gloves and washed hands) aren’t sufficient for Ebola. Within hours the exposure has spread to 300 or more people.
Many of the people at Times Square are from out-of-town so carry the virus back to their home towns when they leave. They go back to work, to parties, to movies; they interact with their family and friends. A week later a few of them - many now in widely-flung locations - begin developing symptoms of food poisoning or flu. More health care workers are exposed before definitely suspicious symptoms or the first autopsy results reveal the disease. All of the health care workers exposed will pass the disease on to many of the other patients they treat.
Now imagine that this same scenario is repeated in Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Chicago - or choose the cities of your choice. Or subsitute London, Paris, and Rome for a few of the US cities. To divert suspicion from their true motives, the ‘bombers’ have left consipuous messages saying they are members of a suicide cult like Heaven’s Gate, so terrorist activity is not even suspected at first.
Something like Ebola scares me a lot more than anthrax, botulism, or plague. Anthrax is not contagious in person-to-person transmission, is treatable with antibiotics, and there is a vaccine available. Botulism, although very scary, is also not contagious, is treatable with botulism antitoxin, and is quickly and easily diagnosed because isolated infections occur frequently in the US. Plague is certainly contagious and often deadly, but is treatable with antibiotics, and infection through exposure for health care workers, for example, can be prevented by prophylactic antibiotics.
Ebola is highly contagious, deadly (depending on the mutation causing the infection), and the only treatment is supportive care while the body tries to overcome the infection. Why do you think the various world health organizations rush to help cope with any Ebola outbreak? The only reason Ebola (or a similar virus) hasn’t become a a serious worldwide health threat is because the natural reservoir (whatever it may be) exists in largely undeveloped nations where international travel is not easy or frequent.
You might want to read this document: Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response
and, to be more specific:
OK coosa no more “Hot Zone” reading for you.
I will grant you that a plan you describe could work, but it still requires far more planning and technical skill than hijacking a plane.
I would still hope that the U.S. government works on protecting its citizens from the most likely scenario rather than trying to combat a worst case scenario that I still think is unlikely to occur.
My anthrax anecdote:
My grandfather got cutaneous anthrax once (he worked in the sheepskin business). It was in the 1960s in South Africa, and he was quarantined for a week or so. He got better.
I’d like to disagree slightly and perhaps, with your permission, or persimmon, re-arrange to suit my fancy, okay?
How about…
When on the air, you need a good supply of YES
Cartooniverse
coosa…he asked for an ANECDOTE, not two twenty minute speeches.
Forget “Hot Zone” - I read The White Plague, The Stand, and Outbreak!
You mean it took you twenty minutes to read each of my posts? :eek:
It didn’t take me that long to write them!
I’m surprise you even go outside without a biosuit after all that reading.
The Hot Zone was a horribly written book, it was like pulling teeth to get through it. In the end, it made me wish i had my $10 back.
Here’s my Anthrax anecdote.
That tabloid building in Boca Raton that you keep seeing in the news? I work in the building right across the street. I can fart and you’ll hear it on CNN.
A couple of coworkers, Ken and Tom, walked into the sea of reporters during lunch yesterday, and Ken got interviewed by a newswoman. She asked “Are you doing anything different now?” Ken said “No, not really.” Tom said, “Wait a minute Ken, didn’t you just tell me you’re giving up sheep?”
The reporter laughed, but I doubt you’ll see this aired.
You gave someone $10.00 from “your end”???