"Bring out your dead!"

[PixelPusher]

https://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/PlaguesandPeople/bringout.jpg



Black Death 'kills al-Qaeda operatives in Algeria' (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/4287469/Black-Death-kills-al-Qaeda-operatives-in-Algeria.html)
The Black Death has reportedly killed at least 40 al-Qaeda operatives in North Africa.

Last Updated: 3:33PM GMT 19 Jan 2009

The disease, which struck Europe in the Middle Ages killing more than 25 million people, has swept through a training camp for insurgents in Algeria.

The arrival of the plague was discovered when security forces found the body of a dead terrorist by a roadside, the Sun reports.

The victim belonged to the large al-Qaeda network AQLIM (al-Qaeda in the Land of the Islamic Maghreb).

A security source told the paper: "This is the deadliest weapon yet in the war against terror. Most of the terrorists do not have the basic medical supplies needed to treat the disease.

"It spreads It spreads quickly and kills within hours. This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."

Black Death comes in various forms and was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history when it struck in the 1340s killing 75 million people across North Africa, Asia and Europe.

Bubonic Plague is spread by bites from infected rat fleas. Symptoms include painful boils in the groin, neck and armpits. In Pneumonic Plague, airborn bacteria spread like flu. Without medication it can be deadly.

The new epidemic began in the cave hideouts of AQLIM in Tizi Ouzou province, 150km east of the capital Algiers, the Sun reports.

The group, led by wanted terror figure Abdelmalek Droudkal, was forced to turn its shelters in the Yakouren forest into mass graves and flee.

The group now fears the highly-infectious disease could have spread to other al-Qaeda training camps or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, the paper said.

A source said: "The emirs (leaders) fear surviving terrorists will surrender to escape a horrible death."

AQLIM bombed the UN headquarters in Algiers in 2007, killing 41.

[boutons_]

uh, if God wills it?

[DarkReign]

If true...shit, thats pretty cool.

[Cry Havoc]

I feel happyyyyyyyyyy!

[Wild Cobra]

I was going to wait until someone claimed that because of Obama, Al-Qaeda numbers were reducing, then bring in such an article. I only heard the news on talk radio. I didn't hear a peep of it from the main stream media. Did any of them report it?

[ChumpDumper]

I was going to wait until someone claimed that because of Obama, Al-Qaeda numbers were reducing, then bring in such an article.You got the next four years planned out like this?
I only heard the news on talk radio. I didn't hear a peep of it from the main stream media. Did any of them report it?Yes.

[Winehole23]

http://www.enotes.com/plague

[2centsworth]

we're not that lucky are we?

[EricB]

Hit the president of Iran, and some of the Taliban and were set.

[PixelPusher]

we're not that lucky are we?

Superior hygiene and medical care. It's easy to forget that throughout history, disease and the elements often caused more casualties than any actual fighting.

[whottt]

Superior hygiene and medical care. It's easy to forget that throughout history, disease and the elements often caused more casualties than any actual fighting.

Unless you're the Azteks, in which case their superior hygiene put them at a disadvantage against the filthy Spaniards and their disease invested selves.

Azteks = bathed daily(as a culture) and were among the first societies in history to do so(after the Olmecs and Mayans).
Spaniards = bathed, weekly? Monthly? And as a result were loaded with diseases which worked decidedly to their benefit upon their arrival.

In warfare, being dirty can be advantage. If the Azteks hadn't been so hygenic and clean, they might have been able to return the gift the Spaniards gave to them.

[PixelPusher]

Unless you're the Azteks, in which case their superior hygiene put them at a disadvantage against the filthy Spaniards and their disease invested selves.

Azteks = bathed daily(as a culture) and were among the first societies in history to do so(after the Olmecs and Mayans).
Spaniards = bathed, weekly? Monthly? And as a result were loaded with diseases which worked decidedly to their benefit upon their arrival.
How often did all the rest of the Native American tribes throughout both continents bathe?

In warfare, being dirty can be advantage. If the Azteks hadn't been so hygenic and clean, they might have been able to return the gift the Spaniards gave to them.
The Mayans sure fought dirty - they would throw rotting corpses into rivers upstream of their enemies to poison their water supply (biological warfare).

[whottt]

How often did all the rest of the Native American tribes throughout both continents bathe?

It varies...some did it quite often and others not so much...generally depended on the availability of water.

The Azteks were able to do it frequently because they were much more sophisticated and had some pretty advanced water distribution systems and public bathing areas(as did the Olmecs). It was basically a part of their religion to bathe daily(or at least frequently).




The Mayans sure fought dirty - they would throw rotting corpses into rivers upstream of their enemies to poison their water supply (biological warfare).

Yeah...Mayans weren't as clean as the Azteks and Olmecs, but they were still cleaner than the Spaniards were. And that trick isn't really about hygiene....

[PixelPusher]

And that trick isn't really about hygiene....

Ditto for foreign pathogens introduced to the Natives by Europeans.

[whottt]

Ditto for foreign pathogens introduced to the Natives by Europeans.

That's not really true, particularly of the Azteks and the Spaniards. It wasn't just smallpox...the Spaniards had very poor hygiene compared to the Azteks. Many of the diseases they unleashed upon the Azteks were rampantly spread entirely due to poor hygiene and it worked greatly to their advantage upon their arrival.

[PixelPusher]

That's not really true, particularly of the Azteks and the Spaniards. It wasn't just smallpox...the Spaniards had very poor hygiene compared to the Azteks. Many of the diseases they unleashed upon the Azteks were rampantly spread entirely due to poor hygiene and it worked greatly to their advantage upon their arrival.

Whether it was a well groomed, cosmopolitan Aztec city boy or a tough ass Plains Indian, the newly introduced smallpox was a pathogen for which the collective gene pool of Native Americans was unable to cope with, unlike Europeans, who's immune systems were better equipped as a result of centuries of recurring plagues and the like.

[whottt]

Whether it was a well groomed, cosmopolitan Aztec city boy or a tough ass Plains Indian, the newly introduced smallpox was a pathogen for which the collective gene pool of Native Americans was unable to cope with, unlike Europeans, who's immune systems were better equipped as a result of centuries of recurring plagues and the like.

Yeah but smallbox wasn't the only thing the Spaniards gave to the Azteks, as I stated and I stated it for a reason....Smallpox was the primary culprit in Tenochitlan and in truth it was probably the primary culprit overall(although not clearly)...but they infected the Azteks with a host of other dieaseses as well like Typhus...and they don't call it the Spanish Flu for nothing.

Beyond all that...the spread of smallpox most certainly can be limited by good hygiene.


In summary, deliberately throwing bodies in the water to poison your enemies is not the same thing as carrying a host of diseases. What happened between the Azteks and the Spaniards is not the same thing that happened between the American colonists and the Native Americans...And the Azteks had superior hygienic practices to the Spaniards(who had poor hygiene even by European standards at that time)...

Something to think about as we attempt to rid our world of disease....

[Winehole23]

Hit the showers, boys!