News Bulletin Submitted by T Peter Park

T. Peter writes: Another classic science-fictional story with the theme of a disease-bringing meteorite is C.L. Moore's 1946 Astounding Science Fiction novelette "Vintage Season," where time-traveling dilettante voyeuristic tourists from a decadent future civilization rent a 20th century house for a close "ringside" view of a meteorite (actually, more like an asteroid) they know from their ancient history will devastate a certain 20th century American city in a super-Hiroshima catastrophe--and introduce a lethal "Blue Death" plague produced by extraterrestrial microbes against which they themselves are inocculated but which decimates the 20th century American population--just like the decimation of 14th century Europe by the Black Death, known by the future visitors to have ALSO been introduced by a meteorite!

Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7001897.stm

Scores ill in Peru 'meteor crash'

Some 600 people in Peru have required treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say. They say the object left a deep crater after crashing down over the weekend near the town of Carancas in the Andes. People who have visited scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases. A team of scientists is on its way to the site to collect samples and verify whether it was indeed a meteorite. "It [the object] is buried in the earth," local resident Heber Mamani told the BBC. "That is why we are asking for an analysis because we are worried for our people. They are afraid. A bull is dead and some other animals are already sick," he said. The incident began on Saturday night, when people near Carancas in the Puno region, some 1,300km (800 miles) south of Lima, reported seeing a fireball in the sky coming towards them. The object then hit the ground, leaving a 30m (98ft) wide and 6m (20ft) deep crater. The crater spewed what officials described as fetid, noxious gases. The gases are believed to have affected the health of about 600 people who visited the site. Most of the victims have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea.