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Martha's avatar

Thank you for the update and links. Based on early media reports, I was under the impression that the current Monkeypox was just about the same as those from Israel, United Kingdom and Singapore from 2018/2019. The "differences" seem to be quite significant.

https://virological.org/t/multi-country-outbreak-of-monkeypox-virus-genetic-divergence-and-first-signs-of-microevolution/806

https://virological.org/t/discussion-of-on-going-mpxv-genome-sequencing/802/2

FTA: "A while back we estimated the rate of evolution of variola virus (VARV; the smallpox virus) to be about 1x10-5 substitutions per site per year (Firth et al, 2010) which would translate into about 1-2 nucleotide changes per year. This is at the high-end of estimates (see the paper for others). However Monkeypox may not have exactly the same rate of evolution."

Kirsten's avatar

Thanks so much for the update. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ™๐ŸŒท

cat's avatar

Ugh. What a smug look on Gate's face as he says "that will get the attention this time." Cue the evil cackle laughter.

Vxi7's avatar

And wife acts on it also. Not sure what year this video is from though.

cat's avatar

I thought I saw it was from just several days ago.

Edwin's avatar

Wouldn't it be nice to know exactly what kind of genetic weaponization was done to the smallpox virus by Soviet Biowarfare experts?

You know, the exact same smallpox they loaded into refrigerated ICBM (but thankfully, not SLBM) warheads.

Moriarty's avatar

You can change pathogens in a myriad of ways, there is no reason to know exactly what kind, because you literally can change that in a few weeks tops.

If you want to fear something, fear the "super" ebola the soviets created. So aggressive, they destroyed all but 2 samples.

Edwin's avatar

Yes, you can "change it in a few weeks tops" now, but this was in the 80s.

After nearly 4 decades studying this stuff, I don't 'fear' any of it, but if it scared the Soviets, that is saying something, especially since they knew how sloppy they were with it.

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May 31, 2022
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Moriarty's avatar

I said that in March of 2020 (Pandora's Box). Just take care of your health and you will be fine. Overthinking on things we can't control will only feed anxiety.