The Plagues of Pandora Quotes

“this only helps dispute the belief that the Black Death was caused by rats. A plague outbreak is always preceded by the presence of a great many dead rats, since they are also susceptible to the disease. Now, unlike in Asia, in Europe there are no plague-resistant rodents that could act as a breeding ground for the disease and a distinct lack of accounts mentioning dead rats in any medieval literature. Also, despite two outbreaks of plague in Iceland in the fifteenth century rats did not settle on the island until much later.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“Any more pits?” “Plenty. An interesting one lies on the Bakerloo line. At the south end of the London depot there’s a junction. One line leads to Elephant and Castle, the other to a dead end and a runaway line for trains unable to stop. Behind the walls of this tunnel lies a plague pit.” Drake suppressed a shudder. “Think about that the next time you’re on the tube.” “Another exists at Green Park, discovered when they were building the Victoria Line. And more . . . so many more. Hayden, Drake, we can’t possibly cover every single one. Not by ourselves.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“But all that has been proven wrong,” Smyth said. “Right?” Karin shrugged. “We thought so. The bacteria should have perished within weeks. But, as I mentioned, scientists have now noted the presence of other diseases too. Diseases that may not die.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“Plague pits of London,” she said. “There are many, leading some to name it the city of bones. From one end to the other you need only dig a few yards beneath the surface to discover its many hidden secrets—tens of thousands of bodies are buried beneath the sprawling capital, a land of skeletons. In addition to the Knightsbridge pit I mentioned earlier we have another at the center of Soho—Golden Square. Now a charming little area, it has a secret history as a plague pit. In 1685 Lord Macauley described it as ‘a field not to be passed by without a shudder by any Londoner of that age’. Here, as the great plague raged, nightly cartloads of corpses were dropped and buried. It was believed that the earth was deeply infected and could never again be interred without the risk of infection.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“If fifty kilograms were released over a well-populated city in aerosol form, pneumonic plague would occur in roughly two hundred thousand people. And, Jesus, a footnote right here . . . no early warning system is in place.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“according to the CDC, plague has been used as a weapon since the Tartars catapulted infected corpses into the city of Kaffa in an effort to spread the disease. It is said .”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“according to this colonel the nastiest form of weaponized pneumonic plague was developed in Russia, employing canisters that released it in a powdered form from cruise missiles. Hard to detect.” Karin’s voice faltered as she spoke. “It’s . . . horrendous what the human race can concoct. In aerosol form pneumonic plague reaches its zenith, the most terrible, easy-to-deploy world killer out there, all down to the contagiousness of the disease, its resistance to dozens of antibiotics and, at least up to early 2000, no vaccine was available to combat the aerosolized form.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“the Soviets developed a dry, antibiotic-resistant, environmentally stable variety of the plague organism. This brings us up to date and to the American CDC, who have now categorized weaponized plague as a Category A agent.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“Would you believe that in World War II the Japanese bred infected fleas by the billions and released them over northern Chinese cities, initiating unspeakable epidemics? Plague has been prevalent in those areas ever since.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“a million different theories exist as to the weaponization of most diseases so let’s start at the top. In the case of any bioterrorist event involving plague, the healthcare system of a region will be easily overwhelmed. Yes, I said will. Especially if strict isolation is implemented indiscriminately for most patients. The Yersinia pestis virus can be destroyed with drying, heat and ultraviolet light, making weaponization a very tricky process.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“the first ever recorded outbreak of bubonic plague was in AD 541-542, later called the Justinian Plague and known as the greatest pandemic in history. There was a third pandemic that began in China around 1855, killed over twelve million in that region alone, and was still considered active until 1959.”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora

“his most recent fantasy could become”
― David Leadbeater, The Plagues of Pandora