Mars Born Infections Harmful to Humans and Livestock

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missions/mars_contamination_010404.html


In April 2001, discussions regarding the retrieval of samples from Mars brought forth several precautionary notions one of which was the possibility of any harmful or even deadly extraterrestrial viruses or bacteria associated with a Mars sample. On the off chance that one or more of these Martian viruses were introduced to Earth's bio-sphere, disease could spread rapidly through humans or livestock which could ultimately take many lives and devastate our worlds economies. The notion of extra-terrestrial viruses was issued as a result of the recent problems associated with mad cow and foot and mouth diseases and should a martian bread epidemic ensue as a result of a planetary sample, the repercussions could be far worse.