New Deadly Virus - Likely to come to America?

[urban_autist]

Just read an interesting BBC article about a deadly virus in Cambodia. I know its nothing to worry about but I wanted to know if, just like SARS, this virus could possibly make its way to America, and if it did, how severe would the consequences be?

Full article is available at http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4483241.stm

[KarlGauss]

One of us is being whooshed (I think).

[Duckster]

<hijack=slight>

I would be more concerned about the US food supply. NBC Nightly News reported tonight that half the entire US honeybee population has been killed off in less than a year, caused by a pesticide-resistant mite:

It’s a huge problem caused by tiny parasites. The varroa mite — which kills bees by feeding on their blood — wiped out an astonishing 50 percent of honey bees in the U.S. in less than a year. It’s a natural disaster that could devastate $10 billion worth of U.S. crops — from strawberries to melons.

“The impact potential at our tables is that if honeybees cease to exist today, one-third of the food you and I eat would simply disappear,” says Jerry Hayes, the chief apiarian inspector at the Florida Department Agriculture and Consumer Services.

</hijack>

[Xema]

The first link doesn’t produce much. The second contains this interesting sentence*:

After death, this virus is able to restart the heart of it’s victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believe to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during “resurrection.”

Most unpleasant. And that’s one smart virus.

• Not especially well constructed, considering it’s supposed to be the BBC - and both “its” and “believed” are misspelled.

[dogbutler]

BRAAAIIIIIIINNNNSSSSS!
:eek:
:dubious:

[clairobscur]

I think we should all carefully check the numerous " what if zombies take over" SDMB threads.

With all the enlightened advices they contain, the dopers should all survive (maybe in power plants, if I remember correctly one of the most recent).

[urban_autist]

I guess we’re safe for now?

[SanibelMan]

Just in case anyone’s worried about this, the article:

• Doesn’t conform to BBC style guidelines (headline is in all caps, the cutline on the photo is punctuated, it’s written very poorly and has gramattical errors).

• Is not located on the BBC News server

• Is incredibly similar to This real BBC article

Verdict: Bullshit.

[SanibelMan]

Of course, I can’t spell “grammatical,” so you can safely disregard the above post and commence planning for a zombie attack.