Man-made super-flu could kill half humanity
Published: 24 November, 2011, 14:27
Avian influenza virus, TEM (NIBSC/Science Photo Library)
TAGS: Animals, Health, SciTech, Terrorism
A virus with the potential to kill up to half the world’s population has been made in a lab. Now academics and bioterrorism experts are arguing over whether to publish the recipe, and whether the research should have been done in the first place.
The virus is an H5N1 bird flu strain which was genetically altered to become much more contagious. It was created byRon Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, who first presented his work to the public at an influenza conference in Malta in September.
Fouchier said the strain circulates in animals, particularly birds, but rarely affects humans.
In the ten or so years since bird flu first emerged in Asia, fewer than 600 cases have been reported in humans. But the H5N1 strain is particularly vicious, killing roughly half of patients diagnosed with it. What stops it from becoming a major threat to public health is that it does not readily transmit from human to human. Or at least it didn’t – until now.
Researchers in Fouchier’s team used ferrets – test animals which closely mimic the human response to influenza – and transmitted H5N1 from one to another to make it more adaptable to new hosts. After 10 generations, the virus had mutated to become airborne, which means ferrets became ill from merely being near other diseased animals.
A genetic study showed that the new, dangerous strain had only five mutations compared to the original one, and all of them were earlier seen in the natural environment – just not all at once. Fouchier’s strain is as contagious as the human seasonal flu, which kills tens of thousands of people each year, but is likely to cause many more fatalities if released.
"I can't think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one," Paul Keim, a microbial geneticist who has worked on anthrax for many years, told Science Insider. "I don't think anthrax is scary at all compared to this."
Now Keim, who chairs the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), and other members of the body, have a very difficult decision to make. Fouchier wants his study to be published. So does virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who led similar research in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of Tokyo, and reached comparable results. And it is up to NSABB to give them the green light.
Many academics and biosecurity experts are naturally cautious about releasing information which could provide any bioterrorist with a ready recipe to hold the world to ransom. Some argue that such work should never have been done in the first place and call for international monitoring of potentially harmful research.
"It's just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus. And it's a second bad idea for them to publish how they did it so others can copy it," believes Dr. Thomas Inglesby, a bioterrorism expert and director of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
However the very same data, if made available to the scientific community, could potentially allow humanity to prepare for an H5N1 pandemic, which Fouchier’s study has shown to be far more probable than was previously believed. Clamping down on freedom of information in the scientific domain may in the end leave us defenseless against the flu, should it arise naturally.
NSABB plans to issue a public statement soon, says Keim, and is likely to issue additional recommendations about this type of research. "We'll have a lot to say," he says.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Amerikagulag on
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Well, when you look at the Georgia Guidestones, it doesn't take a genius to see that this 'arguing' is just so much smoke and mirrors.
"We'll have a lot to say,".....I doubt it. England is working on chimera's. These guys are working on ways to kill off vast numbers of people. The vaccine will be kept for the elite.
"It's just a bad idea for scientists to turn a lethal virus into a lethal and highly contagious virus...."
Why is it that anyone else doing this would be labeled a 'terrorist'. But these 'researchers' who apparently work for Dr. Mengele are free to create weapons of mass destruction with complete impunity. This type of intentional manipulation of the already deadly pathogens is criminal at best immoral at least, yet billions are being spent on it every year. If you don't see the plan, you probably deserve to be taken out of the gene pool.
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Permalink Reply by Cryptocurrency on
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"A virus with the potential to kill up to half the world’s population has been made in a lab. Now academics and bioterrorism experts are arguing over whether to publish the recipe, and whether the research should have been done in the first place."
Yea, make the recipe public. We'll just throw together an anarchist cookbook volume 2 and include the recipe for creating the H5N1 pandemic virus -- are you mad!?
Disgusting.
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Permalink Reply by Vincent L. Guarisco on
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Don't worry. Be happy. With all the poisonous soft kill toxins we're already digesting on a daily basis, we're like a big crop of Monsanto super weeds. We just giggle. :)
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Permalink Reply by Jim Braun on
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So, another WND is about to hit the market. What can be done to stop these sick people? I'm thinking nothing. Their H5N1 will be sold to the highest bidder,how about Muslum coutry's? They have all the money now. As for Pakistan,that place was a lost cause 500 years ago with no change in sight. Pull out and let India take care of it. No more American blood need to be spilled over that hell hole.
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Permalink Reply by LYNN SHEDLER on
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Doctor Thomas Inglesby; bioterrorism expert - remember that name the next time you get sick - enough to go the Emergency room (only to infect others while waiting) because you are really sick. I've made a note of that in my notebook journal; just in case I get sick with it. Are these guys for real??? Why are they doing this? Do they planning on killing most of the population for the sake of Keeping the peace? Agent 'Orange' was produced to kill off the others in a War (Gulf War) which killed off American Troops; one by one. Talk about a back fire!!! This is insane, and has to stop. It is so widely advertized now any scientist (with bad intentions) can reproduce it & use it.
Maybe the band on the internet isn't so bad after all!! It'll keep us alive...
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