It's A Conspiracy If I Say So!

I saw this blog entry when I logged in this morning:

E 71-The Next Killer Virus
​Kementerian Kesehatan Cina mengeluarkan perintah siaga nasional Sabtu (3/5) karena merebaknya virus maut yang telah merenggut jiwa 23 anak-anak di satu kota dengan cepat. Peningkatan kesiagaan dilakukan karena melonjaknya kasus penyakit yang disebabkan virus Enterovirus 71 atau EV-71…

Source | Original Archive (pdf)

Unfortunately it’s in Indonesian so I can’t read what the next killer virus is, but if you look up “EV-71″ in Wikipedia, they have an article about the virus there.

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Update: I figured out how to use Google Translate.

​The Chinese Ministry of Health issued a national alert order Saturday (3/5) due to the outbreak of the deadly virus which claimed the lives of 23 children in one city quickly. Increased preparedness due to soaring cases of illness caused by Enterovirus 71 or EV-71 virus ...

English Archive (pdf)

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​Enterovirus 71 (EV71)

EV71 was first isolated and characterized from cases of neurological disease in California in 1969. “Enterovirus 71 (EV71), the newest member of Enterovirudae, is notable for its etiological role in epidemics of severe neurological diseases in children.

Ever since the 1980s, large and small EV71 epidemics caused by distinct genotypes have occurred in Asian countries and regions sharing trade with China.

Source

First isolated in California in 1969, with most of the outbreaks occurring in Asian countries during the 80′s and 90′s. Now that’s an interesting factoid, but what I find even more intriguing is that this Wikipedia article has been created and edited entirely since May 4, 2008. Only eleven days as of this writing.

See Article History

This is interesting, but not entirely shocking because the EV-71 virus is part of a larger article on Enterovirus.

Enterovirus

The enteroviruses are a genus of (+)ssRNA viruses associated with several human and mammalian diseases. Historically the most significant has been the Poliovirus (which is now nearly extinct). Other types are coxsackie and echovirus.

Enterovirus are the most common cause of aseptic meningitis and can cause serious disease especially in infants and the immunocompromised.

Source

This article has been edited 108 times since November 2004, with 56 of those edits in this month, May of 2008, alone.

Now that may seem drastic at first, but a majority of these edits are related to the latest outbreaks of EV71 in China, since May 3, 2008.

China on alert over deadly child virus

The number of reported cases of the virus in children rose to 3,736 early Saturday in the hardest-hit city of Fuyang, according to the state-run news agency. There were 3,321 reported cases Friday in Fuyang.

Source

Again, most of the edits are all related to the latest news of the outbreak (adding information, correcting typos, etc.), but there have been two edits that caught my attention.

Edit 1) An association between enterovirus and Type 1 Diabetes was removed since the claim was unsourced.

Original Claim That Was Deleted:

The enterovirus (EV) group has been linked to the onset of Type 1 Diabetes (Juvenile onset diabetes, insulin-dependent diabetes), involved in an autoimmune response from the body which initiates beta-cell destruction in the pancreas.

Source

Now I’ve seen lots of claims in Wikipedia that said “citation needed”, but I’m not sure why that wasn’t good enough for this claim, and was subsequently removed.

Edit 2) A comment about one of the areas (Guangdong) where an outbreak of EV71 occurred being where there was also an outbreak of SARS in 2002.

Old Version:

On May 3, 2008, Chinese health authorities reported a major outbreak of EV71 enterovirus in Fuyang city, other localiites [sic] in Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. Initial cases of EV71 outbreak have been also reported in Guangdong province, where [[SARS]] claimed over 774 peoples’ lives.

New Version:

On May 3, 2008, Chinese health authorities reported a major outbreak of EV71 enterovirus in Fuyang city and other localiites in Anhui, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces.

Source (See Also)

Now I know this article is about EV71 and not SARS, and Guangdong is just one of the three areas where the EV71 outbreak occurred, but I still find this edit intriguing since someone had originally pointed this out, and someone else decided to change it.

Does anyone else find these edits interesting, maybe even nefarious with their connections to other things? I know, I’m a whacked-out conspiracy nut.

Regardless, there’s been lots of news lately, of death and destruction coming from the Asian continent.