Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Kayaker]

I am sorry, I meant the if the naz holds the August top at 1347...

Zeev, I'm assuming you mean the Sept 11/02 top of 1347 as mentioned here (#msg-624043) since the August top (1426) is already a distant memory. So I should probably delete #msg-618653 from my list since it refers to 1326 as the major line in the sand?

Re smallpox, I received the vaccine for the first time in the early 70's. Unfortunately, I was one of the folks who didn't react well to it. I developed a papule/vesicle/pustule/scab about the size of a quarter and was quite sick for a few days with a very high temperature. Not an experience I'm anxious to repeat. But, since I'm not in the US, I don't think the vaccine will be available to me anyway. Certainly I'll reconsider in a hurry if smallpox actually shows up in North America.

Its those nasty Russian strains I'd like to avoid...

In 1947, the first bioweapons laboratory in the former Soviet Union grew variola virus in embryonic chicken eggs.2 The weaponized liquid egg material remained viable for a year following mixture, stabilization, and refrigeration. In 1967, the Russian laboratory isolated a more virulent strain of smallpox from India that, when aerosolized, produced symptoms in monkeys within 1 to 5 days. The virus was later adapted for delivery in bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The genetic structure of vaccinia virus is almost identical to variola major. In 1990, using vaccinia as a surrogate in smallpox weapons research, Soviet scientists successfully inserted a DNA copy of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis into vaccinia virus. In 1997 the same Russian team inserted the gene for Ebola into the vaccinia genome.

http://www.afip.org/Departments/infectious/sp/text/1_1.htm