# Human AIDS bomb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109 "2006-05-25T00:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/21 "2006-05-25T22:11:36Z")
While it’s as evil and twisted as suicide bombing is, it sounds way too calculated and scaremongering to be actually true. I suggest you quietly approach your supervisor and say “CITE???” ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/22 "2006-05-25T22:24:33Z")
And you’ve got to wonder exactly how these guys are getting infected? Is there some super secret viral research lab available to potential suicide bombers? Do they get dosed up with a massive viral load, but using some tecnique unknown our inferior Western science they are still fit enough to carry out their (presumably very stressful) mission? It’s a little unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/23 "2006-05-25T22:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=Tapioca Dextrin] And you’ve got to wonder exactly how these guys are getting infected? Is there some super secret viral research lab available to potential suicide bombers? Do they get dosed up with a massive viral load, but using some tecnique unknown our inferior Western science they are still fit enough to carry out their (presumably very stressful) mission? It’s a little unlikely. [/QUOTE] It would make more sense to recruit people who are already infected with HIV, convincing them that since they’re going to die anyway, they may as well help the cause. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/24 "2006-05-25T22:38:34Z")
[Gruesome speculative story](http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2588) on the subject from 2002. [UK tabloid report](http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16559740&method=full&siteid=62484&headline=hiv-bombers--name_page.html) on the subject, January this year. ---
**Author:** ![RCGDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@RCGDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RCGDC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/25 "2006-05-25T23:16:17Z")
I always get speculative about people spreading HIV on purpose. Especially for terrorism. Becasue even once infected, it can take years to show up in symptoms. Where is the terror? We had outbreaks of Marburg Virus (related to Ebola) a few years back. Certainly there are far more terrorising diseases than HIV. Yeah I realize you probably will get AIDS from it in the end, but it certainly doesn’t cause the immediate terror like Ebola or Anthrax ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/26 "2006-05-25T23:34:55Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] While it’s as evil and twisted as suicide bombing is, it sounds way too calculated and scaremongering to be actually true. I suggest you quietly approach your supervisor and say “CITE???” [/QUOTE] He did mention a cite, as I aluded to in the OP, but I missed the details. I’ll see if I can get it out of him. He was a little taken aback at my immediate skepticism. You probably know how the military is with scuttlebutt (rumors), so his source might be highly suspect. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/27 "2006-05-26T15:19:13Z")
[QUOTE=MaryEFoo] If terrorists were actually doing this, or people believed they were doing this, it would demoralize medical responders, police, the military, and family and friends of the victims, and deter them from doing their jobs. Deter them from acting to help the injured, take the bodies for burial, clean up or repair the site, etc. This would increase the effectiveness of the suicide attack. So just spreading the rumor (especially if unverifiable) would increase the effectiveness of the suicide bombing. Spreading this “information” assists terrorists in their effectiveness. You might inform your supervisor of this, and see if he wants pass this dampening concept back to wherever he got the original idea. Just mulling on it. [/QUOTE] I don’t see how this assists the terrorists in their effectiveness. Emergency personnel already take considerable precautions against blood-borne disease. At least I hear that they do. Although, I think it would be interesting to see if mangeorge has the guts to irritate his supervisor to the nth degree by saying “Cite?” Do it! Do it! Do it! 😉 hh ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109/28 "2006-05-26T23:33:05Z")
😉 He’s in the Coast Guard (be nice, now) reserve, and he went to some kind of commando-like training. He was told allegation by a trainer during survival type stuff. He seemed kinda sceptical himself, but lifers ain’t allowed to shout “CITE” at their superiors. He’s an E-7, IIRC. I didn’t push him for more info. 😉 It’s not beyond the type of organization that plays loud rock and roll at Noriega to do something like that, is it. BTW; what ever happened to, uh, what’s-her-name. The military doctor who used to post here? I miss her posts, and found them to be interesting and often helpful. Her sig, IIRC, made some reference to her career. Peace, mangeorge [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-aids-bomb/358109.md?page=1)