What do you think the future holds for the combination of these two sciences? I feel that soon laboratories will create viruses or bacteria that can withstand hostile environments and outlast modern erradication methods to infect and destroy, in domestic and foreign laboratories, it seems like a scary thought.
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Biological Weapons + Genetic Engineering
- Thread starter TATABox
- Start date
We are dealing with speculation on this topic. Such may already have been developed. You never know.
This has the potential to leave the earth without a single human left alive on the surface of this planet. In most natural diseases, there is a certain amount of natural immunity within the population that will be unaffected. Engineered viruses or bacteria may offer up a sure method to get around that.
Nature in many ways has done some of that for us. Hospitals continually fight to retain a sterile enviroment. Some of these bacteria have developed immunities to standard cleaning and steriltizaion solutions, and they are now labeled "super bacteria" because of their resistance.
Welcome to sciforums, TATABox.
This has the potential to leave the earth without a single human left alive on the surface of this planet. In most natural diseases, there is a certain amount of natural immunity within the population that will be unaffected. Engineered viruses or bacteria may offer up a sure method to get around that.
Nature in many ways has done some of that for us. Hospitals continually fight to retain a sterile enviroment. Some of these bacteria have developed immunities to standard cleaning and steriltizaion solutions, and they are now labeled "super bacteria" because of their resistance.
Welcome to sciforums, TATABox.
We have allready developed many varieties of anthrax from a common ancestor so yeah.
It isnt hopeless though. Genetic engineering will be able to make a vaccine for every plague (though many may fall before it is available). Many antibiotics are in some way genetically engineered now.
It isnt hopeless though. Genetic engineering will be able to make a vaccine for every plague (though many may fall before it is available). Many antibiotics are in some way genetically engineered now.
Reply to Clockwood
It seems that if we were to make a virus, given the mutation rate (rhinovirus being at the top), I wonder how they could control such a thing. Antibiotics are a dying remedy, vancomycin was the last of the strong ones, and now they are using combinations of some, and even some step strains are already resistent to those. It seems pretty scary that some day people will start dying from common ailments that could have been cured by antibiotics. Ex. look at M. Tuberculosis, many strains from Mexico are already resistent to everything. Looks like their taking over.
It seems that if we were to make a virus, given the mutation rate (rhinovirus being at the top), I wonder how they could control such a thing. Antibiotics are a dying remedy, vancomycin was the last of the strong ones, and now they are using combinations of some, and even some step strains are already resistent to those. It seems pretty scary that some day people will start dying from common ailments that could have been cured by antibiotics. Ex. look at M. Tuberculosis, many strains from Mexico are already resistent to everything. Looks like their taking over.