Sludgie

Reuters announced a breakthrough today in the field of vaccines. With the threat of avian flu looming, and fears of a global pandemic widespread, scientists have been using past epidemics as a case study to come up with a plan for future ones. Still, this headline seems to me like a mixed blessing:

Vaccine protects mice against deadly 1918 virus (Reuters)

Eight of 10 mice given antibodies from the immunized mice survived infection with the 1918 virus while none of the ten untreated mice did.

American scientists have been behind the rest of the medical field ever since Bush stifled stem cell research, but now even mice are making greater strides than we are. As a strong advocate for animal welfare, I’m pleased to hear that mice have developed a vaccine that could protect them in the event of a future pandemic, but I can’t help feeling a little embarrassed for their human counterparts. With this capacity for critical analysis, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll start looking under the piece of cheese, and then we’re screwed.

Besides, why couldn’t the birds have come up with a vaccine? Then we could stop worrying about it!