[107243] in Cypherpunks
RE: bug recipes
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brown, R Ken)
Thu Jan 7 08:33:46 1999
From: "Brown, R Ken" <brownrk1@texaco.com>
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com, "'David Honig'" <honig@sprynet.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 07:07:47 -0600
Reply-To: "Brown, R Ken" <brownrk1@texaco.com>
Some weeks ago, David Honig[SMTP:honig@sprynet.com] wrote:
> >doubt a skeleton could harbor usable smallpox but
>> I am not up on my biology tonight.
> IANA microbio, but recently someone sequenced enough pathogen
> in an unearthed bubonic victim's dental plaque to confirm
> Mr. yersinia's role...
> Lets hope the crazies realize the containment problems...
Well, I am as little of a microbiologist as it is possible to be (like, I
already bought the text book and the course starts next week...) but I'm
pretty sure it is possible to detect things that are long dead. Of course
smallpox is a virus & so rather different. Bacteria like Yersinia, or
Bacillus antracis (2 guesses what that causes) are much more like you and
me than any of us are like a virus.
If you want actual online data about how long nasty things can live in soil,
garbage and dead stuff, check out the Bad Bug Book
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/intro.html at the US FDA (home of the
wonderful Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia of Fish Images - I kid you not) The
Wisconsin Bacteriology page at http://www.bact.wisc.edu/news/default.htm is
more fun than it sounds.
And, to the other guy who challenged us all 3 weeks ago to put up & shut up
about how to culture anthrax or other nasty bugs, why should we do your
homework for you?
Ken Brown
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