LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday. Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia. Would You Like To Know More? Wow...What say ye, Wordforge? Alien virus or chemical reaction?
It's a tropical area. There seems like there are all kinds of deadly diseases being borne out of hot, humid weather. And I doubt a virus could come from a meteor that needs to have flown through the harsh conditions of space. It's more likely the meteor hit some rare and deadly mushroom or something, it mixed in with the water, and the spores got released into the air and made everyone sick.
My daughter said yesterday she wanted to be a zombie for halloween, and have some tasty brains. My god, could this meteor have a more far-reaching effect than we thought?
Begun, the Zombie Wars have. Actually, my guess is that the impact drove large numbers of insects and vermin, some carrying pestilence, away from the impact site and nearer the village, resulting in more people contracting insect- and animal-borne illness. Or, may just be a coincidence.
No, the project was "Wildfire". The code was, "Sir, there's a fire." (damn, how geeky is it that I know that?)
Right now the best me and my geologist companions can figure is that if the meteorite was very nickel-rich, that much metal vaporizing could leave deadly gasses in the air for some hours afterwards, which would cause horrible effects to humans. Runner-up guess is a sulfur-rich asteroid, though that's less likely.
