Some researchers in North Korea's Ministry of Public Health have announced that they've cured MERS, the respiratory infection that has killed several people in Asia and infected hundreds - and destroyed the South Korean travel plans of countless more.
A MERS cure would be big news - in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, authorities have been desperately trying to stop the disease from reaching epidemic proportions, and nothing would be more greatly appreciated than a vaccine or highly-effective treatment. That said, the international community has responded to North Korea's claims by - in a slightly more professional manner - telling them to take their fake-ass cures and shove 'em.
"When I was working in the lab, I got at least 30 phone calls a month claiming that someone had invented a panacea for such and such disease," Dr. Bang Jun Seok, a pharmacology professor in South Korea, told the website NK News. "It would be a waste of time for WHO [World Health Organization] to even consider sending an email to the DPRK requesting certified data."
It isn't helping their case that the North Korean authorities are claiming that this cure, dubbed Kumdang-2, also cures AIDS, Avian Flu and SARS. Essentially, if it's in the headlines, then North Korea will have claimed to have cured it.
Although, maybe we're just cynics, and a bunch of brilliant North Korean scientists are just wondering why everyone is being such a dick about their magical super-cure.
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