Not terrorist but a virus - shootings -violence

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/25/at-least-2-dead-17-wounded-in-south-florida-nightclub-shooting-3-people-detained.html

Woke up from terrible dreams and just don't feel well. Many of the people who have been close me are sick with "something" and people seem to be getting crazier and crazier. Reminded of an old Star Trek episode And the Children Shall Lead with the Dark Angel who thrives off and feeds on anger and confllict.

It is summer and there are literally no reports of flu anywhere or for that matter much any other disease except for Zika. Yet is it possible there is some virus, something that making people really flip out?

Perhaps I should have made this into a book and fleshed it out some, but there times I wonder after the host of real serious massive errors in the administration in the U.S. and decisions that completey defy logic. Is something at work here which no one has even tested for or tried to trace?

We have always had radical religious people and even psychos, but not to the tune of mass murders around globe every few days. That is what things are evolving into.  I was once told there is no cure for stupid, and people often make the worst choices in life, but this seems to have spread massively to the highest people in government, many on drugs or invovled in criminal activity.

https://www.verywell.com/new-flu-virus-strains-2633828

Some of these changes are minor, but there are sometimes big changes that create completely new flu virus strains. It is these new flu virus strains that experts worry about because they are the ones that can trigger a flu pandemic.

Other things to know about new flu virus strains include that:

    * people, especially younger children, often don't have any immunity to "novel" or new animal flu virus strains

    * swine flu virus strains that can get people sick are called variant flu viruses
    * some new flu virus strains have genetic changes that can make it easier for them to spread from animals to people or to cause more serious disease.

comment: despite massive conspiracy theories there generally always is a logical explanation for any severe behavorial abnormality in humans.

http://www.cnet.com/news/theres-a-virus-that-makes-you-stupid-scientists-say/#!

A large group of scientists from both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Nebraska examined microorganisms that populate our "mucosal surfaces."

A surprise discovery was that the ATCV-1 virus -- which comes from algae -- seemed to affect human cognition. Previously, it had been thought that humans weren't prone to being infected by this virus. However, in taking throat swabs from 92 people, the researchers found 40 of them had the virus.

The research report says: "The presence of ATCV-1 DNA was not associated with demographic variables but was associated with a modest but statistically significant decrease in the performance on cognitive assessments of visual processing and visual motor speed." The decrease was around 10 percent.

The scientists tested this result by injecting mice with the same virus. They say the results were similar.

When they found the virus, the scientists weren't sure what it was. They discovered it had previously been found in green algae which inhabit rivers and lakes.

But if such a high proportion of the guinea pigs in this study had the virus, what if 40 percent of the world is also adorned by it? Might this explain some of the more macro aspects of human behavior, such as voting patterns, fast-food worship and Prius-driving?

comment: So what types of viruses are developed in research labs to target a large population?  For one it would not have to be something that takes everyone out in a few months. If you could radically impair the mental function of a large population and especially those in charge, you could take out a nation in a few years.

In talking with friends and people in politics we have seen some top people in the last few years making statements which truly defy logic. At one time it was a consideration a lot of people in high offices were on drugs or truly mentally not with it.

So my launch for a thread on this - would such a large spread of infection of such a virus be detected by any of the health care infrastructure we have in place? The idea of mental illness caused by a virus is certainly not fiction. Can we afford many more bad decisions in foreign policy and common sense castrophe's by those with the greatest powers?

Medclinician

Technophobe wrote: Wow, Med!  That is thinking outside the box.  I am impressed!   I hope you are wrong, but I can't fault your logic.  Toxoplasmosis Gondii (though bacterial) is known to change human behavior.  It reduces caution and increases the risk-taking behaviors of both cats and those owners they infect.  Many, rather more specialist, fungi and parasitic worms produce behavioral changes in their hosts.  I can see no reason that viruses should be any different. Information and the biases contained within it spreads in a similar way to viruses, and this is vastly increased by our information-technology.  If you are right the two systems could combine to produce a really nasty shock for everyone.

Yes, I was thinking about it and at first it seemed pretty wild - but maybe in a few years we may even see some real breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness. All these in depth analysis of childhood traumas when someone who seems just fine flips out and murders dozens will make sense.  We do have the ability to start tracking and sorting this out and I hope some researchers will do so.