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A disease that turns men into monsters.

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A medical establishment on the verge of
collapse.

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A world consumed by fear.

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Could a real life zombie apocalypse wipe
humanity from the face of the globe?

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This would be a virus that could cause
civilization to collapse.

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Leading minds join forces to craft
scientifically plausible scenarios of

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Armageddon.

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And find the secret to human salvation
in the

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face of ultimate disaster.

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Let's drop him in.

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We're in.

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Okay.

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A lot of us have the impression that
human beings have tamed Earth.

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That we are the masters of this planet.

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That, however, is an illusion.

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We're in tight.

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Good? Good. Now come on up here.

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An illusion that's pretty easily
revealed when you look at what's

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right now in the field of infectious
disease.

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Coming up on the morning. Grab the buoy.
We are in an era of many emerging

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infectious diseases, and by that I mean
diseases that we have never come into

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contact with or diseases that we have
come into contact with but are appearing

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in some different way.

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They are increasing in frequency for
some reason, and this is a huge problem.

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Looks like a humpback to me.

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These viruses can emerge from totally
unexpected sources.

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Getting so close.

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We have no protection against them.

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There's no question. An unexpected virus
that we have no immunity against, where

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there's no vaccines available, this kind
of virus.

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Should emerge into the population.

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Yeah, it shouldn't be in the harbor
unless it's sick.

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This would be a nightmare scenario for
the world.

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In a tragic incident this morning.

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A humpback whale attacked a sailboat in
Provincetown Harbor, killing a 48 -year

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-old sailing instructor and his 19 -year
-old students.

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The whale then swam in circles for two
hours before beating itself.

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The Massachusetts Department of Fish and
Wildlife, assisted by teachers and

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students from Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute, are now performing a

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This whale attacked a sailboat, which is
very unusual.

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So we're hoping to find a clue to that
behavior, especially in the brain of the

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whale.

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One theory is that the whale may have
been suffering from an illness that

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affected its behavior.

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Where do new diseases come from?

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There are several sources, but one of
the most common is from other species.

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The animal kingdom.

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These are referred to as zoonotic
diseases.

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We have many dramatic diseases that have
come into the human population,

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usually from other species.

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Ebola is one that's very famous. SARS,
which spread a little bit more, which

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originated probably in bats. We were
almost certain about that.

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When we think about zoonotic diseases,
diseases that are spread from animals,

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think about some kind of transmission
path, the person and the animal coming

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direct contact.

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So is there a scenario where people are
dissecting a whale which has died

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on a beach?

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Could someone then become infected,
especially if a person has cuts?

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Absolutely, there would be a way.

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Well, it's a messy process.

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I got a small cut on my finger, but that
happens.

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So what would a doomsday virus look
like?

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Well, there is one virus that stands
out. If it was just changed or mutated

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slightly, it wouldn't just cause the
death of millions of people, but it

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create a virtual army.

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Of zombie -like victims.

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It would be the ultimate doomsday
infection.

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That virus is rabies.

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Rabies is a virus that infects all
mammals.

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No other virus does this, has such a
wide range of

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hosts that it can infect.

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It's usually spread by the bite of an
animal that's infected.

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The scary thing about the virus is it
really heads towards the nervous system.

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Once the rabies virus gets into a nerve
cell, it redirects the function of the

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cell to start replicating the virus.

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Slowly but surely...

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You get viral replication up through all
of the nerves into the spinal cord in

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the brain.

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Almost everybody who shows signs of the
disease we call rabies dies.

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It's essentially a death sentence.

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The brain cells that regulate the
muscles of breathing basically are

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and your...

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paralyzed and not able to breathe, and
that's the method of death.

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The speed with which rabies kills people
is terrifying.

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What's also terrifying is what happens
to rabies victims before they die.

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In many ways, rabies is a kind of zombie
-like or zombie -making disease because

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it eats the brain.

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When it hits the brain, that's when the
problems begin.

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That's when the symptoms begin.

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Anxiety ridden, hallucinations, foaming
at the mouth, people as well as animals.

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The animal now attacks other animals.
The animal becomes vicious.

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When rabies starts to destroy cells that
are responsible for inhibiting

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aggressive behavior, anything can
happen.

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So why don't we hear more about rabies?
Why isn't rabies a virus that makes us

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scared?

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Firstly, it's not transmitted easily.
You have to be bitten. You have to be

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scratched. You have to have an animal
slobber on you who has rabies. Then you

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can catch the virus.

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But what if rabies changed or mutated?

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What if the virus somehow developed the
ability to spread more easily?

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But not just through bodily fluids like
saliva, but through the air.

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That would change everything.

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This is what scientists worry about.

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I mean, this would be a virus that could
cause civilization to collapse.

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Is rabies the most dangerous virus on
the planet?

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It's only not considered the most
dangerous virus because it's not

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easily.

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If a new strain of rabies developed, one
that could be transferred through the

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air, that could be the deadliest virus
this planet has ever seen.

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Where's the other one?

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It's right over here.

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They're both suffering from the same
symptoms.

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It doesn't make a lot of sense to me,
but... This could be rabies.

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Two people detained yesterday by
Falmouth police were found dead in their

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this morning. They had been arrested
separately on charges of disorderly

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conduct.

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Autopsies are currently underway to
determine the cause of death.

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To diagnose rabies, you actually have to
be thinking of it, because you have to

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use special stains to look at it in the
brain, or you have to culture it in

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special media to see if you have the
virus.

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If you look in the brain of rabies
patients in autopsy,

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you can see deposits of virus where the

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virus has actually been growing and
obviously destroyed cells in the brain.

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Autopsy results have revealed that the
man and woman found dead in the Falmouth

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jail Tuesday morning had been infected
with the rabies virus.

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A medical investigation is now underway
to determine how they contacted the

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disease and what connection, if any,
there is between the two cases.

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We've done a great job of controlling
rabies in the Western world.

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So if two people contracted rabies at
the same time, alarm bells would go off.

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One of the first things that would
happen is that public health officials

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look for the common links between the
two cases.

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It's incredibly important to figure out
exactly what the source was because you

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need to prevent other people from
getting sick.

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Just basic detective work, trying to
find people who may be infected or may

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been exposed by interviewing, finding
out who they were in contact with.

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Since the diagnosis is made after death,
you would probably have to be talking

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to the family members to find out what
the patient's been doing.

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We ask them tons of questions, and we
try to figure out a common source.

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Rabies, as far as we know, infects all
mammals.

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That includes mammals on land, and it
includes mammals in the water.

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We know marine mammals, such as seals,
have contracted rabies before.

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Whales have never tested positive for
the virus.

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But under the right circumstances, it's
certainly possible that they could.

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Where could a new, more contagious
version of the rabies virus come from?

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Viruses change all the time in nature,
but there's another way that they can

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change.

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And that is by our own hands.

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Human beings manipulate disease -causing
agents in laboratories all the time.

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Some of these experiments have led to
great medical achievements, like

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or even in the fight against cancer.

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Cancer killing viruses.

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There are many labs who are working on
this, and it's very successful right

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This is why viruses are mainly
genetically engineered today.

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But there are also experiments that make
viruses more dangerous and more deadly.

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And those are the kind that can create
an end -of -the -world scenario.

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Those experiments really do happen,
probably more often than we'd like to

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All of the work we do with infectious
diseases obviously can save many lives,

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but could also be twisted by people who
may want to use it for harming others.

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Any technology can be used for both good
and nefarious purposes.

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After the Second World War, Britain, the
former Soviet Union, the United

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States, they all had some form of
biological weapons program.

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Then, in the early 1970s, The Biological
Weapons Convention outlawed these types

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of experiments, but that didn't mean it
stopped.

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The Soviets just continued in secret.

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They developed this huge network of labs
that they called biopreparate.

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Something like 30 ,000 employees
continued to produce bioweapons in these

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For years, they kept this all secret,
but in 1979, there was an accident.

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Anthrax spores leaked out of one of the
labs into the surrounding community.

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More than 60 Soviet citizens died.

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It was the worst known human anthrax
outbreak in history.

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It was simple human error that caused
that anthrax outbreak.

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But who's to say that someone else's
human error wouldn't cause an even worse

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outbreak?

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Even with strict precautions in place,
there are many ways materials like this

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can escape a controlled environment.

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You can't safeguard 100 % of the time,
not when people are involved and

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can be made.

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Take a deadly transmissible agent.

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Add the possibility of human error, and
you now have the recipe for the worst

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disease outbreak we've ever seen.

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What's up, Dave?

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00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:08,839
Hey, what's up, David? How you feeling,
man?

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At this point, a genetically modified
virus, deadly and easily spread, has

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its way out of the lab and into the
environment. A virus, modified and so

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that it now threatens to extinguish the
entire human race.

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People wouldn't just get sick and die.
They could transform into zombie -like

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madmen, spreading violence along with
the disease.

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If the rabies virus developed a way to
be transmitted from person to person.

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That would be an apocalyptic
catastrophe.

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So if someone were to modify rabies to
make it easier to spread between people,

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how would they do it?

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This would have to be a virus that
infected the upper respiratory tract.

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And this would be done by making it
transmitted through aerosols, through

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coughing, through sneezing.

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A great example of an airborne disease
is influenza.

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Influenza is spread incredibly easy from
person to person. If you're standing

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anywhere near somebody who has
influenza, you can get it simply from

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that comes out of their mouth when
they're talking.

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The act of normal human speech can carry
thousands of germs just on the moisture

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of your breath.

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If rabies became transmissible like the
flu, you'd have a killer cocktail on

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your hands.

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People will be coughing, sneezing, 100
,000 virus particles get released into

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the air.

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Everybody in that room could potentially
come down with rabies.

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From a single event, one person can
infect a lot of people, and they can go

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to infect many, many, many people, and
then they can go on to infect many, many

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people.

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The growth is exponential.

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If rabies were to spread like that, it
would spread without any kind of

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restriction.

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If you don't think it's possible, just
look what happened during the flu

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epidemic of 1918.

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00:19:57,770 --> 00:20:02,190
Millions of people died when the
pandemic of 1918 occurred.

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00:20:05,510 --> 00:20:10,670
Probably as many as 100 million people
died throughout the world.

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00:20:13,130 --> 00:20:19,630
From this one strain of the virus, in
five weeks of this virus, more people

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than died from the Black Plague.

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00:20:21,630 --> 00:20:26,790
More people died in five weeks than died
in 25 years of HIV.

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So if we had a version of the rabies
virus that spread as easily as the flu,

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would the medical establishment prevent
a pandemic from happening?

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00:20:37,950 --> 00:20:41,730
Well, chances are they couldn't, because
they probably wouldn't even know it was

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happening. Rabies is a difficult virus
to detect.

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Before it reaches the brain, there are
no symptoms. You feel perfectly normal.

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During this phase, if the virus was able
to be transmitted from person to

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person, then you could potentially be
transmitting this virus to people

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even knowing that you had the virus.

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And it could potentially take months
before the first symptoms appear.

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And until then, You would just be
carrying on your normal life, subways,

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airplanes, supermarkets.

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So what will happen when the disease
finally begins to show itself?

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A person would first start experiencing
flu -like symptoms.

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You feel malaise. You feel tired. You
feel like you have sort of a viral

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infection. Then the virus would start
manifesting its brain symptoms.

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00:21:56,770 --> 00:21:58,530
That's when the problems begin.

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00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,280
We've had five cases in the last hour.
Fever, slight constipation, trouble

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00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,900
swallowing. They're highly agitated,
yelling, screaming.

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00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:18,540
They won't distill. We don't know what
to do.

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00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:23,800
I'm calling security.

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00:22:24,100 --> 00:22:25,100
Call the police.

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00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:32,460
I can imagine how natural cases of
rabies would look like a zombie.

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00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:39,720
Please get out. The similarities are
very interesting in the destruction of

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00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,860
brain, the way people's behavior
changes.

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00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:47,360
And when you put a lot of people
together, it's a very tragic thing to

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00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,200
Yes, hello, this is the ER. We cannot
see any more patients tonight.

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00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:30,720
operators in Toronto, Los Angeles, New
York, and other major North American

246
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,640
cities are overwhelmed tonight.

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00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,000
I'm so scared.

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00:23:37,120 --> 00:23:42,900
After a string of violent assaults led
to an explosion of new cases of rabies.

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00:23:45,660 --> 00:23:50,140
Authorities are asking people not to
approach anyone who could be rabid, even

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00:23:50,140 --> 00:23:51,380
friends and family.

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00:23:58,710 --> 00:24:03,650
This outbreak comes on the heels of an
announcement that a highly contagious

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00:24:03,650 --> 00:24:09,070
airborne strain of the rabies virus has
infected people in at least 18

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00:24:09,070 --> 00:24:15,890
countries. Some are calling it a... The
media will get

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00:24:15,890 --> 00:24:20,190
right on top of this and report it.
They'll have medical experts on.

255
00:24:20,700 --> 00:24:25,340
There'll be reports from the CDC in
Atlanta as to what's being done.

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00:24:27,780 --> 00:24:34,400
It's necessary in order to get people to
do whatever can be done to slow the

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00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,760
infection and the hope would be to stop
the infection.

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00:24:38,020 --> 00:24:42,280
But all of these things, unfortunately,
will frighten people.

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00:24:56,010 --> 00:25:00,430
There's no cure for rabies. Once you
develop symptoms, it's universally

260
00:25:00,790 --> 00:25:02,230
But there is a vaccine.

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00:25:03,110 --> 00:25:05,830
The vaccine can prevent people from
getting rabies infection.

262
00:25:06,190 --> 00:25:09,810
But the rabies vaccine can also be used
for something called post -exposure

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00:25:09,810 --> 00:25:14,290
prophylaxis. So even if you're exposed
to the rabies virus, if you get the

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00:25:14,290 --> 00:25:18,090
vaccine in time, it can prevent
infection and prevent the onset of

265
00:25:18,550 --> 00:25:25,310
But once you have symptoms, even the
first symptoms, that's it.

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00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:31,780
The only treatment now is make yourself
comfortable because it's the end. You're

267
00:25:31,780 --> 00:25:32,780
going to die.

268
00:25:34,260 --> 00:25:36,520
We have arrived at a critical moment.

269
00:25:37,420 --> 00:25:40,060
How many do you have in the hot zone?

270
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,920
Because we have this vaccine, one of the
first things that public health

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00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,600
officials would do is to administer the
vaccine to people who are exposed to the

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00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:55,500
rabies virus or at risk of being exposed
to the rabies virus.

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00:25:55,820 --> 00:25:59,480
It's one thing to have an effective
vaccine. It's quite another to be able

274
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,420
administer that vaccine to millions or
even billions of people in a very rapid

275
00:26:03,420 --> 00:26:08,240
fashion. Right now, they keep the number
of doses pretty low. There are not that

276
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:12,200
many people who have the potential to
become infected by rabies every year.

277
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:13,320
There's only...

278
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,000
A number of doses that range in the
thousands.

279
00:26:16,540 --> 00:26:19,540
Hospitals have a few doses. Clinics have
a few doses.

280
00:26:22,220 --> 00:26:27,120
The problem with the vaccine is, A, we
don't have enough of it, and B, it takes

281
00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:28,360
a while to produce.

282
00:26:29,020 --> 00:26:31,600
Large amounts of rabies virus would have
to be grown.

283
00:26:32,460 --> 00:26:35,060
The virus would have to be isolated and
inactivated.

284
00:26:35,380 --> 00:26:39,500
Then it has to be formulated with
stabilizers and preservatives. This

285
00:26:39,500 --> 00:26:40,500
does not happen quickly.

286
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:47,700
We don't have much capacity for making a
lot of vaccine. If there were a big

287
00:26:47,700 --> 00:26:53,480
rabies outbreak, it would take literally
months to be able to make a vaccine to

288
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:55,100
protect the uninfected.

289
00:27:00,260 --> 00:27:05,080
But even once the vaccine is ready,
you'll have a whole new set of problems

290
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:05,879
your hands.

291
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:11,380
When you're facing a mass illness, There
are huge ethical and social problems

292
00:27:11,380 --> 00:27:15,040
that come with it. First of all, who
gets the vaccine if there's a limited

293
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:19,140
supply? I think

294
00:27:19,140 --> 00:27:25,560
there's no question that there would be
a panic

295
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,820
among people to try to get a hold of a
vaccine.

296
00:27:46,060 --> 00:27:49,680
Everyone wants to live. They're going to
want their families to live.

297
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:56,660
These kinds of situations in which
there's a limited amount of cure and a

298
00:27:56,660 --> 00:28:02,060
huge number of people who need it never
work out well for most people.

299
00:28:05,660 --> 00:28:09,640
Remember, in this scenario, the rabies
infecting the world isn't normal rabies,

300
00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,520
but something created in a laboratory to
be more transmissible and more deadly.

301
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,600
Would this virus be the same as the
rabies strains that are now around?

302
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:20,440
Possibly not.

303
00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:27,660
So that rabies virus would not be
affected by the vaccine. People

304
00:28:27,660 --> 00:28:30,680
who were vaccinated and thought they
were protected would not be.

305
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:37,920
If they started dying from rabies, then
this would amplify

306
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:39,440
the catastrophe.

307
00:28:48,780 --> 00:28:49,780
close to 1 billion.

308
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:54,240
Several governments in Africa, South
America, and Asia have simply ceased

309
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,340
functioning after officials fled their
posts.

310
00:28:58,180 --> 00:29:03,160
Fearing infection, vigilantes across the
globe have taken it upon themselves to

311
00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,320
execute rabies sufferers on Sunday.

312
00:29:06,780 --> 00:29:11,200
The parties warn this does little to
stem the tide of infection and is only

313
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,380
adding to the bloodshed.

314
00:29:16,620 --> 00:29:19,960
So what could we do if the vaccination
strategy failed?

315
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,900
We might turn to some of the oldest
techniques in history for preventing

316
00:29:23,900 --> 00:29:26,220
epidemics, quarantine and isolation.

317
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,280
But how do you quarantine a population
of billions that has basically turned

318
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:33,280
into zombies?

319
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:42,860
What can we do at this point? There's a
worldwide pandemic of our own

320
00:29:42,860 --> 00:29:45,580
making. It's turning people into virtual
zombies.

321
00:29:46,090 --> 00:29:47,990
There's no vaccine. There's no cure.

322
00:29:48,190 --> 00:29:51,330
What can we do now to save ourselves
from extinction?

323
00:30:06,590 --> 00:30:10,870
Please pay careful attention to this
message. Now protect yourself and your

324
00:30:10,870 --> 00:30:11,870
family.

325
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,220
There are two classic ways that we use
to reduce the spread of infectious

326
00:30:17,220 --> 00:30:18,340
diseases in populations.

327
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,640
The first method is quarantine, where
people who may have been exposed to the

328
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,900
disease but are not yet showing symptoms
have their movements restricted.

329
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:33,940
The second method is isolation, where
people who have symptoms of the disease

330
00:30:33,940 --> 00:30:36,440
are removed from the population to
prevent further spread.

331
00:30:47,470 --> 00:30:51,670
broadcast at least 32 countries have
imposed strict quarantine restrictions

332
00:30:51,670 --> 00:30:58,390
within their borders the u .s surgeon
general is

333
00:30:58,390 --> 00:31:03,090
asking anyone living in a community with
even one reported rabies case to stay

334
00:31:03,090 --> 00:31:04,090
indoors

335
00:31:10,950 --> 00:31:15,090
Quarantine is when you put a person
who's not yet sick, they're still well,

336
00:31:15,090 --> 00:31:18,410
they've been exposed, you isolate them,
you prevent them from going out.

337
00:31:19,490 --> 00:31:24,350
The problem then becomes, those people
can't go out to get food, those people

338
00:31:24,350 --> 00:31:29,330
can't go out to do their laundry, those
people can't go out to do anything.

339
00:31:29,790 --> 00:31:34,990
Plans have to be made to make sure that
those people are fed and they have

340
00:31:34,990 --> 00:31:37,510
enough water to drink, clothes to wear.

341
00:31:39,150 --> 00:31:44,030
It gets very, very hard to enforce
because people don't like to be cooped

342
00:31:44,030 --> 00:31:45,030
a long time.

343
00:31:45,270 --> 00:31:51,250
I think that there's a philosophy that
if you feel well, you are well. You

344
00:31:51,250 --> 00:31:52,189
feel sick.

345
00:31:52,190 --> 00:31:56,590
You don't think you are sick. You don't
see the point of having to sit at home

346
00:31:56,590 --> 00:31:57,590
for days.

347
00:31:57,770 --> 00:32:00,830
But you could be sick and you could
infect others.

348
00:32:03,110 --> 00:32:08,510
If you have a virus that's easily
transmitted from person to person, A

349
00:32:08,510 --> 00:32:11,570
quarantine may very well not be
effective.

350
00:32:12,030 --> 00:32:15,350
That's been tried for influenza virus
over the years.

351
00:32:15,630 --> 00:32:16,810
It doesn't work.

352
00:32:18,610 --> 00:32:23,110
And in this scenario, quarantining
seemingly healthy individuals would

353
00:32:23,110 --> 00:32:24,110
the easy part.

354
00:32:24,250 --> 00:32:27,690
Trying to isolate people who are already
showing symptoms would be even more

355
00:32:27,690 --> 00:32:28,690
difficult.

356
00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:36,930
Isolation is when you prevent somebody
from going out who is known to have the

357
00:32:36,930 --> 00:32:43,200
disease. Anyone who was identified as
getting sick would have to be isolated

358
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:48,560
a central site. They would use things
like VA hospitals or other government

359
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:49,560
facilities.

360
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,380
What you have to factor in now is that
the people you're trying to isolate,

361
00:32:55,380 --> 00:32:56,780
can be irrational and violent.

362
00:33:01,940 --> 00:33:06,930
If the volume of sick people were heavy
enough, they would overwhelm any

363
00:33:06,930 --> 00:33:11,090
facility that was available, and there
were agitated people who were not

364
00:33:11,090 --> 00:33:15,330
adhering to their isolation, that system
would break down.

365
00:33:16,510 --> 00:33:22,630
As law enforcement fall prey to this
illness, there'll be a breakdown of law

366
00:33:22,630 --> 00:33:24,130
order in our society.

367
00:33:26,650 --> 00:33:32,010
And that becomes a self -perpetuating,
vicious cycle in which eventually

368
00:33:32,010 --> 00:33:33,130
everything is destroyed.

369
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,920
With rabid people overflowing into the
street, we're going to have to switch

370
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:41,920
strategies immediately.

371
00:33:57,300 --> 00:34:02,440
There's always the possibility of
reverse quarantine, where people who are

372
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,180
get together and keep out people who are
sick.

373
00:34:06,190 --> 00:34:11,790
There's a phrase called cordon
sanitaire, which refers to the idea of

374
00:34:11,790 --> 00:34:16,590
off an entire community, city, town from
interaction with the outside world.

375
00:34:16,670 --> 00:34:18,550
Nobody can go in and nobody can go out.

376
00:34:20,389 --> 00:34:27,190
In 1918, during the famous Spanish flu,
one town,

377
00:34:27,350 --> 00:34:34,190
Gunnison, Colorado, actually decided
that it did not want to have the flu

378
00:34:34,190 --> 00:34:35,190
come.

379
00:34:35,850 --> 00:34:38,690
So it posted armed guards.

380
00:34:38,909 --> 00:34:44,050
Everybody stayed in town. No one had yet
caught the flu, and no one was allowed

381
00:34:44,050 --> 00:34:47,190
to leave. If they left, they were not
allowed to come back.

382
00:34:47,610 --> 00:34:53,330
Gunnison managed to escape the
influenza, but those were very draconian

383
00:34:53,330 --> 00:34:55,389
measures, very carefully enforced.

384
00:34:57,150 --> 00:35:01,330
The problem is the ability to contain
one...

385
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,920
cluster of people in one town may be
very, very difficult.

386
00:35:09,300 --> 00:35:14,180
Every community right now relies on
every other community. To think that you

387
00:35:14,180 --> 00:35:20,200
just band some of your neighbors
together in an isolated place and

388
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:22,340
is, I think, very wishful thinking.

389
00:35:22,740 --> 00:35:26,500
Good morning. Can I see some ID, please?
Can you keep out people who are

390
00:35:26,500 --> 00:35:27,780
infected? We're Joe Connor.

391
00:35:28,700 --> 00:35:29,960
Joe Connor, good to go.

392
00:35:30,460 --> 00:35:31,520
Thank you very much, sir. Please.

393
00:35:32,620 --> 00:35:37,260
If infected people are showing signs of
aggression, this is going to be a

394
00:35:37,260 --> 00:35:38,260
difficult situation.

395
00:35:40,300 --> 00:35:41,300
Now,

396
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:45,280
part of the problem in dealing with the
infected is you have a mixed bag. People

397
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:46,780
at various stages of the disease.

398
00:35:47,940 --> 00:35:52,880
Some might be semi -rational, while
others might be hostile and

399
00:35:53,020 --> 00:35:56,060
You're also going to have people that
are sick, but don't realize they're

400
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:03,420
demanding food, shelter, and protection
from a virus they already have.

401
00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,900
Can we really create a rabies -free
zone?

402
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:53,700
There is one unusual manifestation of
rabies disease and it could prove useful

403
00:36:53,700 --> 00:36:55,300
in establishing rabies -free zones.

404
00:36:55,700 --> 00:37:02,480
There is one symptom that humanity could
conceivably use to protect itself.

405
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:21,420
Everything we usually use to combat
disease is failing in this scenario.

406
00:37:21,980 --> 00:37:26,560
Vaccinations aren't working, isolation
isn't working, quarantine isn't working.

407
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:32,960
So all we've got left is to try to keep
the rabid people at bay, away from

408
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:33,960
healthy people.

409
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:39,500
And one way we might be able to do that
successfully is by using water.

410
00:37:42,540 --> 00:37:46,460
It's well documented that rabies
infection causes hydrophobia, a fear of

411
00:37:46,660 --> 00:37:50,080
We don't really know why, but because
rabies infects nerve cells that control

412
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,740
the throat muscles, swallowing can
become difficult and even painful.

413
00:37:55,460 --> 00:37:59,120
It's this difficulty swallowing that
causes people with rabies to foam at the

414
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:00,120
mouth.

415
00:38:00,860 --> 00:38:03,600
This is because even swallowing saliva
becomes difficult.

416
00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:08,380
So it's very normal when you see water,
you swallow to reflex.

417
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:14,040
But if you have trouble swallowing, then
every time you see water and you can't

418
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:16,440
swallow, you become scared of water.

419
00:38:21,180 --> 00:38:28,160
With mass quantities of water, you could
conceivably prevent people with rabies

420
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:34,560
from entering communities, towns,
buildings, anything like that.

421
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:38,300
Of course, there's no guarantee that
this would work.

422
00:38:38,590 --> 00:38:39,590
It is a long shot.

423
00:38:40,290 --> 00:38:44,590
But hydrophobia is one of the most
consistent and potent symptoms among

424
00:38:44,590 --> 00:38:45,590
sufferers.

425
00:38:46,450 --> 00:38:50,330
But even if the most successfully kept
out rabid people, it might not be a

426
00:38:50,330 --> 00:38:54,590
rabies -free zone because the virus
might find a way to get in.

427
00:39:01,930 --> 00:39:06,250
Transmission of rabies could occur in
ways that we would never even think of.

428
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:11,040
Remember, infectious agents can mutate.
Viruses have been known to change in the

429
00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:12,100
wild during outbreaks.

430
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:19,940
As a virus mutates, we have no idea of
where its limits could

431
00:39:19,940 --> 00:39:26,840
be. You can imagine that it could become
even more transmissible and it could

432
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:28,880
continue to jump species.

433
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:33,760
The real danger is that the virus could
find its way into other species that we

434
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:34,760
can't control.

435
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:44,040
A virus like this could be carried by
mosquitoes or ticks or mice. At that

436
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:49,480
point, the idea of isolation and
quarantine would be much more difficult.

437
00:39:54,020 --> 00:39:57,320
Once that happens, no place on Earth is
safe from the virus.

438
00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:04,800
After the virus finds its way into each
rabies -free zone, you'd see the same

439
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:06,180
pattern over and over and over again.

440
00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,240
and until humans are teetering on the
verge of extinction.

441
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:28,560
So, is there really a chance of survival
in this kind of rabid zombie

442
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:29,560
apocalypse?

443
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:35,080
There might be one hope for humanity to
avoid extinction, something that's been

444
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:36,080
with us all along.

445
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:42,660
There may be some hope in a situation
like this because of the phenomenon of

446
00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:43,660
natural immunity.

447
00:40:44,940 --> 00:40:51,840
Natural immunity is when an individual
or some group are naturally immune

448
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:56,720
to a disease, meaning they can be
exposed to it and they will not get

449
00:40:57,020 --> 00:41:00,220
We all have resistance to different
infectious diseases.

450
00:41:01,070 --> 00:41:05,990
Some of these are genes that, you know,
we were lucky enough to get from our

451
00:41:05,990 --> 00:41:08,330
parents that may protect us.

452
00:41:08,810 --> 00:41:15,710
About 10 % of northern Europeans are
resistant to HIV. Even though they're in

453
00:41:15,710 --> 00:41:19,350
the presence of the virus, they don't
become infected.

454
00:41:19,610 --> 00:41:23,570
They're not becoming infected because
the virus doesn't have the ability to

455
00:41:23,570 --> 00:41:24,570
into their cells.

456
00:41:25,570 --> 00:41:28,310
Because their cells are different.

457
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:38,560
So what if there are a group of people
alive today that are immune to rabies?

458
00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:45,420
There is some suggestion that in the
Peruvian rainforest, there are

459
00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:51,160
some groups that are very isolated who
have natural immunity to rabies.

460
00:41:52,460 --> 00:41:57,500
They will not get sick when exposed to
it. Part of their immune system is

461
00:41:57,500 --> 00:42:01,340
somehow primed to fight off that
infection.

462
00:42:02,570 --> 00:42:06,370
If they have the antibodies to rabies,
it means that they've been exposed to

463
00:42:06,370 --> 00:42:10,850
virus. But they're still alive. They
didn't get a vaccine, but they're alive.

464
00:42:11,210 --> 00:42:18,050
Then, if you look hundreds of years in
the future, the people who populate

465
00:42:18,050 --> 00:42:23,990
the planet will all be descendants from
these small pockets of people who manage

466
00:42:23,990 --> 00:42:25,910
to live when everyone else dies.

467
00:42:26,830 --> 00:42:30,450
Maybe humanity could get a second chance
there.

468
00:42:36,810 --> 00:42:41,610
I think we really need to feel humble in
the face of the microscopic world.

469
00:42:41,890 --> 00:42:48,710
Very shortly before the HIV epidemic,
someone declared the war

470
00:42:48,710 --> 00:42:53,850
on infectious diseases to be won. And I
think that when we get too arrogant

471
00:42:53,850 --> 00:42:59,130
about our ability to control the
microscopic world, we are actually

472
00:42:59,130 --> 00:43:00,130
disaster.

473
00:43:01,070 --> 00:43:05,790
It's dangerous to think that we're
invulnerable, and it's a healthy

474
00:43:05,790 --> 00:43:10,110
consider how a series of events, none of
them outlandish on their own, could

475
00:43:10,110 --> 00:43:12,670
come together to threaten everything we
know.

476
00:43:14,590 --> 00:43:18,950
It's always valuable to imagine, to
discuss and debate these worst -case

477
00:43:18,950 --> 00:43:22,850
scenarios, because that is how we are
going to prepare ourselves for whatever

478
00:43:22,850 --> 00:43:23,850
the future may bring.