Minor correction Wumpus. The Plague is not caused by a virus, but by bacteria. (Which is why it is treatable with anti-biotics.)
HorseloverFat wrote:
I disagree. A virus that replicates quickly and kills quickly will burn itself out, and is therefore easier to contain. Once it kills off all its hosts in a particular area, it’s done.
A more likely candidate for serious destruction would be a hypothetical airborne variation on HIV. The disease would have a very long incubation period, months or even years. The host would walk around, not knowing he or she was infected, and unknowingly infecting others. The virus would be easy to pass along, since it would be airborne, unlike HIV. By the time our hypothetical victim becomes symptomatic, a huge chunk of the population would have been unwittingly exposed, and would themselves have passed the virus along.
I still don’t think any virus could wipe out everyone. I think a segment of the population is going to be immune, or resistant, to any virus or bacterium that comes down the pike. A virus like the one I describe could put a huge dent in the population, though.
Spoke- said, “I wouldn’t want to have the hubris to say that it could never happen, but I have my doubts. I think we
have enough genetic diversity that at least some of the population will be either resistant or immune to any disease that comes along.”
I agree and only want to add that were are animal populations with so little variation that they would be in danger from viral or other attack. As the more unusual species decline in numbers and are kept in preserves and zoos the more likely it is that eventually we will lose the whole lot. Accidental contamination of the food zoos use to feed XXXXXXXXXXX animal would seal the species end.