Scientists mutate bird flu to make it MORE contagious
white88enochian
Regular
The H5N1 bird flu virus has killed 500 people - and outbreaks sparked terror around the world about the possibility of a global pandemic.
So far, the virus has not been contagious enough to pose a threat of a global pandemic. Sick people don't pass it readily to the healthy.
But that might change.
At a flu conference in Malta this September, virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands made an astounding, and terrifying, announcement.
He found that a few simple genetic tweaks to the virus made it far more infectious among ferrets - a standard animal model used to study how viruses spread among humans.
Fouchier found that a mere five mutations to the virus were sufficient to make it spread far more easily.
His genetic research was part of an international drive to understand H5N1 more fully.
But his discovery caused a storm of controversy.
It's traditional for scientific research to be open - to allow fellow scientists to review the work of others, repeat their methods and learn from them.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2063326/Scientists-mutate-bird-flu-make-MORE-contagious--critics-claim-bioweapon-kept-secret.html#ixzz1eDDc9nxr
So far, the virus has not been contagious enough to pose a threat of a global pandemic. Sick people don't pass it readily to the healthy.
But that might change.
At a flu conference in Malta this September, virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands made an astounding, and terrifying, announcement.
He found that a few simple genetic tweaks to the virus made it far more infectious among ferrets - a standard animal model used to study how viruses spread among humans.
Fouchier found that a mere five mutations to the virus were sufficient to make it spread far more easily.
His genetic research was part of an international drive to understand H5N1 more fully.
But his discovery caused a storm of controversy.
It's traditional for scientific research to be open - to allow fellow scientists to review the work of others, repeat their methods and learn from them.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2063326/Scientists-mutate-bird-flu-make-MORE-contagious--critics-claim-bioweapon-kept-secret.html#ixzz1eDDc9nxr
Comments
Pay the right Scientist enough and you can get anything you want. This whole thing makes me want to put on my tin foil hat...and army grade respirator.
Don't do it bro. That is what happened to Jeff Hunter...
Second, this is an RNA virus we are talking about. RNA viruses have high mutation rates and these people are delusional to believe that keeping some scientist quiet about five mutations will prevent this specific variant from forming. Do they actually believe that keeping their voices down will keep the big secret from the virus?
Third, screaming "Bioterrorism!" and hiding every time a new pathogenic variant of a virus is identified is not practical way of approaching these issues (unless you are writing a grant application to study them).