Avescope Memento Mori

Except there is the possibility that smallpox is lurking.
Epidemic victims in the northern permafrost are in danger of
thawing. With climate changes in the north, there is a
possibility that shallowly buried bodies could become exposed
and as they haven’t decomposed at all, the virus could be
viable. While seemingly the stuff of thriller movies, this is not
outside the realm of plausible reality.
Even more disturbing, Canadian scientists were able to activate
a strain of smallpox from a horsepox virus in 2017. They were
able to do this in a small lab without specialist training for
approximately $100 000. Most disturbing? Two months ago the
storage facility for the live smallpox virus in Russia suffered
from an explosion that supposedly didn’t damage the
containment area, or so we have been told. One does wonder
how safely kept these samples are.
A new smallpox vaccine was approved in 2007 and the first
antiviral therapy for ‘pox’ viruses including smallpox was
approved in 2017. For a disease that is ‘eradicated’, research
hasn’t stopped. Clearly, the threat of a smallpox return isn’t
idle. Because while most of us have forgotten the horseman,
epidemiologists and physicians haven’t.
Sadly, the anti-vax crowd have accused them of every
conceivable crime in the book, from being stooges for Big
Pharma to active infanticide. It would be ludicrous if it wasn’t
so unfortunate. These scientists are working to protect us from
terrible diseases. It’s hard, often thankless work. No one goes in
to epidemiology, pediatrics, virology or infectious disease
research for money or fame. This isn’t the ‘sexy’ end of the
medical field. In fact, in the top ten of the worst paid specialties
in medicine? Pediatrics, family physicians and internal
medicine are the top three. HIV/infectious disease specialists
are number 6.
Name me a famous doctor or scientist in this field today? How
about in history? Salk, Sabin, Pasteur, and Jenner. Can you
think of anyone else? No. Because like the people who gave us
sewers, (Thank you, Joseph Bazalgette!) we only think of them
when something goes terribly, terribly wrong. When was the
last time you were thankful that you didn’t get a disease?
Probably a lot more after reading this article. In the words of
John Oliver, ‘Didn’t get polio today. SO LIT!’
Work Projects Administration Poster Collection [Public domain]
But the horseman is there. He’s always been there. Spreading
pestilence all around him. He’s patient. It would appear he’s
giving us enough rope to hang ourselves with and then he will
strike. Protect yourself and your family against him. When the
horseman comes, his reaping will not be gentle.
I ask everyone who has made it to the end of this article to post
on Facebook ‘I’m so happy I don’t have smallpox’ and tag
Avescope. Then go make sure you your shots are up to date.
And then get the new, awesome shingles vaccine. I’ve had
shingles- under age 40 too! You really don’t want it.
It’s time for the public to take the horseman seriously. These
threats are real. Fifty years of relative safety have made us
complacent. Diseases are coming back because people can no
longer comprehend the horrors that they are. One of the best
things I’ve ever heard said about vaccines and the rise of the
anti-vax movement is that vaccines are victims of their own
efficacy. The combination of vaccination and modern drug
treatments have removed the monster from our sight.
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