Many of you probably read last week about a supervirus , engineered by dutch virologist Ron Fouchier , that hasthe electric potential to wipe out one-half of humanity .
Engineered Avian Flu Could pop Half the World ’s Humans
Is the virus potentially dangerous ? Absolutely . Could it really drink down off half the world ’s universe ? That … is n’t on the dot likely . And scientists in backing of Fouchier suppose that a much more authoritative motion is : what are the betting odds that a influenza line that ’s never even been inside a laboratory does accommodate into something lethal enough to become the next pestilence ?
The answer to this questions is far from absolved , which is why inquiry like Fouchier ’s is in reality unbelievably important , and worthy of level - headed consideration . Over atThe Loom , Carl Zimmer has written an excellent station about what ’s really going on when it get along to apocalyptic - virus research . Zimmer publish :
The idea that someone could designedly plan a A-one - lethal computer virus from scatch – as plausible as it may seem – is , for now , a hallucination .
If you ’ve been follow the news this past calendar week , you may think I ’ve just been essay ill-timed . report have surfaced about two team of scientists produce flu virus that could potentially bolt down millions if they escaped from the labs . The scientist have the computer virus interlock up fast for now , and government functionary are debating whether they can publish their final result .
So is this evidence that scientist have become viral Frankensteins , who can engineer pathogens at will ? Hardly .
The Modern inquiry is part of a long - running struggle to read how new flu strains arise . It ’s clear that all flu viruses that taint humankind finally evolved from viruses that infect shuttlecock . From clip to clock time , multitude can pick up these viruses , which infect their airway . depend on the strain , razzing flu may be harmless or lethal to homo . But for the most part , it ca n’t get from one human to another . It ’s too well adapted for lifespan in birds .
On rare juncture , a bird grippe does manage to adapt to humans . It may experience natural pick , it may plunk up some genes from human flu viruses , or both . Scientists are still trying to figure out what it takes for a flu virus to make this transition . It ’s an of import question , not just as a matter of fundamental biology but as a matter of global health . When Modern raspberry influenza leap to humans , we miss immune defence against them , and they can thus cause world pandemics .
Flu experts have had their eye on one strain of doll flu in exceptional for a while now : H5N1 . It ’s proven extraordinarily lethal , and yet , since it first amount to light in 1997 , it has n’t negociate to make the big spring and start spreading from somebody to person . If you get H5N1 , you ’re in crowing difficulty . But not many people get it . Yet .
Does this imply that H5N1 just does n’t have what it takes to become the next great pandemic ? Or does it mean the virus simply has n’t evolved the right recipe yet ?
That ’s something we do n’t know the solution to yet — but it ’s investigations like those of Fouchier that are likely to find the answer . Read the residue of Zimmer ’s post over onThe Loom . You ’ll find out another really even - handed take on Fouchier ’s enquiry over onScience .
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