Mutating H5N1 in a lab was reckless

Remember the reports in 2005 and 2006 of a bird flu strain that could kill millions if it ever mutated to pass easily between humans? Some dopes in a Dutch lab have made the threat a lot more real.

By mutating H5N1 into a more human threat, these scientists have given would-be bio terrorists something to salivate over. They say they did it because it could help them develop more effective vaccines in the future, but to me this falls into the category of things you just shouldn't mess with, no matter how pure your intentions.

Here's what has happened, as reported by The Independent, a UK publication:

A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it.

The discovery has prompted fears within the US Government that the knowledge will fall into the hands of terrorists wanting to use it as a bio-weapon of mass destruction.

Some scientists are questioning whether the research should ever have been undertaken in a university laboratory, instead of at a military facility.

The US Government is now taking advice on whether the information is too dangerous to be published.

"The fear is that if you create something this deadly and it goes into a global pandemic, the mortality and cost to the world could be massive," a senior scientific adviser to the US Government told The Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The worst-case scenario here is worse than anything you can imagine."

For the first time the researchers have been able to mutate the H5N1 strain of avian influenza so that it can be transmitted easily through the air in coughs and sneezes. Until now, it was thought that H5N1 bird flu could only be transmitted between humans via very close physical contact.

Dutch scientists carried out the controversial research to discover how easy it was to genetically mutate H5N1 into a highly infectious "airborne" strain of human flu. They believe that the knowledge gained will be vital for the development of new vaccines and drugs.

These clowns have apparently failed to read Stephen King's "The Stand."

That might sound like FUD coming from me, and it is possible this thing will stay locked up in the lab where it can't hurt anyone. But it's something people need to know about.

Pandemic planning is something we at CSO have covered extensively in recent years. A couple years ago our coverage intensified during the H1N1 pandemic, which was far milder than H5N1.

Knowing that the mutated H5N1 is out there reminds us that we need to keep the pandemic planning alive.

Meantime, I'm hoping these scientists are not allowed to publish a "how we did it" paper as they want to.

They've done quite enough already.

--Bill Brenner

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