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second bird flu study published

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Wade

Wade

FeralNormal master
another interesting news story that came out today, was the second of two bird flu studies was given the o.k. to be published in science and nature magazine. One study done by Yoshihiro Kawaoka ( Univ. of wisc.-madison)was given the green light a couple of months ago, however another one done by Ron Foucher of the Netherlands (Erasmus Med. Grp.) was originally stifled and was released just today. the two studies explored how H5N1 could mutate and become airborne (naturally inevitable i would think) , in these studies, the virus was altered into a strain to become airborne using ferrets

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/health/h5n1-bird-flu-research-that-stoked-fears-is-published.html
 
When I first read about these reports back in february I had to admit I was confused by the procedure in that what was the point of artificially creating an airborne virus (outside a military use) ? The dangers of the virus are made clear, you don't have to hit john q. public over the head to realize the dangers of airborne pathogens, and like I mentored it is inevitable to have it happen naturally so why force the issue ? Neither of the doctors seemed interested in creating an andromeda strain and tellingly ( I guess) neither study...as fast as I could tell...was funded by any government agency on either side of the pond. In fact, the issue WAS the governments trying to prevent publication of end results for all to see. I will have to go back to the new yorker story to try to find out why it was done as I believe dr. foucher did give a well nuanced explanation of why he felt it was for the benefit of all to publish. It seems tome there is only two things to do if it did become airborne. A huge media blitz on hand washing and mouth covering our mouths and/or mutate the damn thing and "un"airborne it.
 
As i understand it the decision to publish was a double edged sword.

On the one hand a terrorist state could use the data to make their own, on the other researchers could use it to develop a cure.

Havent had a good plague in ages

 
Perhaps I'm not looking at it the right way. I truly don't know the extent of the experimentation. As I understand it the scientists are trying to make it airborne via gene splicing. it's likely that airborne transition of the virus through evolution is inevitable , but it could be some generations away. I'm less worried about the information getting into the wrong hands than I am an unintentional outbreak through a security lapse. But even if they were able to achieve this tomorrow, we already know that airborne transmission would be a catastrophe. I'm wondering what the end game of this experimentation is. Is it to verify that H5N1 aerolization is a bad thing ? What do you think the next step would be once it becomes a fait accompli ? Do you think that once this gets done they would go about setting up controlled experiments and encourage infection through various species to determine the vector? I think this could be a good thing but I think the vector could also be determined just by observing nature in action and more importantly studying the bird/man interface in asia and addressing this. Or do you think this is too simplistic ?
 
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.
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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.”
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Super Virus created by: Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam! « It don't Matter!

So they actually created this virus, its done

The decision to publish the result can be summed up by

By learning more about how the virus could evolve the ability naturally, scientists hope to contain its potential to cause a pandemic in humans.
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Controversial bird flu experiments to go ahead - Health - CBC News

I guess i agree with this stance, the fact that it could be done (has been done) was inevitable, its now a race to find a cure before some terrorist state deploys it.
If it were me, and it were possible to do so, i would have done the research in secret, until the cure was developed
 
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