In the news yesterday - Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis hovers threateningly close to Australia, just up there in PNG

http://www.mja.com.au/journal/2013/198/7/extensively-drug-resistant-tuberculosis-hovers-threateningly-australia-s-door

XDR-TB raises concerns of a future TB epidemic with restricted treatment options, and jeopardizes the major gains made in TB control.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensively_drug-resistant_tuberculosis

This is surely of very significant concern. Perhaps it will be the first really significant antibiotic-resistant disease to ravage humanity… with many more to follow.

It would appear that it IS going to come to Australia, and IS going to spread rapidly abroad. It is already known from various other parts of the world.

And it would appear that newly evolving strains of all manner of diseases will appear and wreak havoc on humanity.

Now for the really controversial bit – Perhaps in the long term this could actually be a good thing, if it brings the human population down by a couple of billion.

I see your humanitarian streak shining through again, Ludwig.

>>Perhaps in the long term this could actually be a good thing, if it brings the human population down by a couple of billion<<

Anyone who can call the deaths of a billion people a "good thing" needs to take a long, hard look at their moral compass.

Ludwig, you were going well until this;
<<Now for the really controversial bit – Perhaps in the long term this could actually be a good thing, if it brings the human population down by a couple of billion>>
Nothing controversial in that, you make Hitler and Stalin look like a couple of real softies.
Just lovely, have you told your family and friends you hope they all contract TB and die a slow and painful death. You can explain to them how its a win win situation, they will be helping to bring down the human population, which cannot be a bad thing. But you might miss the fun, you could get it first.
Do you actually read what you post, or do you believe it? Such a sicko statement.

Ludwig, while it is a sick statement, it's one of those instances where telling it like it is is taboo.

I would hate to see a couple of billion die from this, or any other manner, including starvation but, there is an answer, and it's about as humane as you can get, it's called birth control, but for some reason we have all these people willingly throwing money at the problem while ignoring the solution.

To others, he did say it was a bad statement to make, so you can't hang him for that, and yes Paul, he Obviously did read it before he posted it.

So Paul, would you have responded at if I hadn’t added that last paragraph?

Are you actually interested in the very important subject of drug-resistant TB and other diseases, which we have largely got on top of, but which are now set to re-emerge and become enormously problematic?

Or is this thread going to be just another vehicle for the likes of those on the Rolf Harris thread to vent their spleens without really addressing the subject at hand?

Hey, OF COURSE my last statement in the opening post is highly controversial. And OF COURSE we don’t ever want TB or any other disease to result in a loss of human life to the extent of it actually bringing the global population down significantly... or ANY loss of life at all for that matter.

Of course I was playing for a reaction with that statement.

So, now that you are on this thread, are you going to discuss the REAL subject that I have raised?

.

Great post rehctub. Thankyou.

The solution is twofold, birth control and social security for the aged and in societies that lack the second the first cannot be achieved to any extent for there are many societies where the only way for people to have some security in old age is to have many children.

Address the security for the aged problem and birth control will be taken up as a happy option.