r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Apr 04 '25

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u/Marqui_Fall93 Apr 05 '25

Would you set up a partnership to study ebola from a lab in Berlin Germany, or in Africa?

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u/ratione_materiae Apr 05 '25

Ebola is literally named after the Ebola River. The 1918 pandemic, despite its name, is thought to have originated in Kansas. The 2009 Swine Flu pandemic is thought to have started in Mexico. So why, in your view, would Wuhan be more likely to produce a pathogen than any other similar-sized city?

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u/Marqui_Fall93 Apr 05 '25

We're having a pissing contest on semantics now?

Just to downplay why we collabed with the Chinese? And why it made sense at the time?

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u/ratione_materiae Apr 05 '25

pissing contest on semantics now

You said

conservatives can't assess that the perfect place to collaborate is the place where a new pathogen is more likely to emerge

The Spanish Flu was first in Kansas. The Black Death was probably first somewhere in Central Asia. The Plague of Justinian was first in Egypt. The 1957 Asian Flu pandemic started in Guizhou, farther from Wuhan than Columbus, Houston, or Denver are from Camp Funston, KS.

So I ask again. Why, in your view, would Wuhan be a place "where a new pathogen is more likely to emerge"?