Creation of New, Deadly Virus Sparks Terror Fears

[Hum]

The U.S. government is sounding the alarm after reports that Dutch scientists have created a highly-contagious and deadly airborne strain of bird flu that is potentially capable of killing millions, The Independent reported Tuesday.

The U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity is currently analyzing how much of the scientists' information should be allowed to be published?given the inherent risks of having the information fall into the hands of terrorists or rogue states.

"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 US government adviser told The Independent.

Scientists, too, are questioning whether the science should ever have been performed in the first place.

"There are people who say that the work should never have been done, or if it was done it should have been done in a setting where the information could be better controlled," a source close to the US biosecurity board told the newspaper.

"With influenza now it is possible to reverse engineer the virus. It's pretty common technology in many parts of the world. With the genomic sequence, you can reconstruct it. That's where the information is dangerous."

The mutated form of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was created by a Dutch team of scientists led by Ron Fouchier, of Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Centre, and the researchers are now hoping to publish the details of how they developed the new strain.

The new virus differs from H5N1?which is only known to be transmitted between humans who have very close contact with each other?because it can be transmitted through the air in coughs and sneezes.

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[Nick H. Supervisor]

I picked a bad time to watch Contagion...just days before this news comes out.

[Glassed Silver]

[...]

The mutated form of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza was created by a Dutch team of scientists led by Ron Fouchier, of Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Centre, and the researchers are now hoping to publish the details of how they developed the new strain.

[...]

REALLY?

Talk about loving your work too much!

Normally I'm all for open science etc, but this should have happened in way better controlled environments and BOY do you NOT want to publish that.

How stupid can you be?

Irresponsible a**hats...

Makes me lose my general calmness...

Glassed Silver:mac

[FMH]

If that ever got loosed? :omg:

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Next-Gen WMDs

[UseLess]

No idea why they felt the need to modify a dangerous virus...but I assume they want to release their findings/methods for other people to use to make GOOD viruses =) or develop ways to kill of existing ones.

[zeta_immersion]

science is fing awesome ... hell, if modified H5N1 would the the only threat we could be exposed I'll be happy

[Bamsebjørn]

On discovery, the scientist exclaimed: "I've got it!"

[kizuran]

I picked a bad time to watch Contagion...just days before this news comes out.

Ah, it's not so bad. Scientists and researchers are (generally) nowhere as wantonly incompetent, greedy, spiteful &/or omnicidal as portrayed in fiction. :shifty:

However, it's probably a good idea that they study this crazy strain in a secure, government-operated location. There's no way that they plan to study and house this stuff onsite @ Erasmus Medical Centre, tho. That's just tempting fate! :cry:

[Crisp]

So because American don't own it or know about it the hole world is in trouble.

I bet if it was the other way around and the US made it, no one would care.

[Lexcyn]

WTF? Why even make something like this? What is the practical use?

[spacer]

Why in the world would they want to make a more dangerous version of bird flu? I cannot think of any good, beneficial reason to do the research, let alone publish it. The whole endeavour just seems incredibly stupid to me.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

WTF? Why even make something like this? What is the practical use?

This is the thing that'll end World War III thus proving:

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. Albert Einstein

US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

[Hum]

WTF? Why even make something like this? What is the practical use?

The powers that be want to lower the human population.

[Knife Party]

zombies!

[Phouchg]

Or they might have tried predicting various natural mutations of H5N1 and one of the results turned out to be this crap. I'm still waiting for Alex Mercer to show up.

[DocM]

WTF? Why even make something like this? What is the practical use

By studying virulent bugs and modding them like they could change in nature it helps with producing vaccines and new drugs. Call it getting ahead of the game.

This is a Level 4 lab so I wouldn't be too worried as they're sealed real damned tight (been there, seen that). There are many Level 4 labs around the world, and several here in the US including the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The labs I'd worry about the most are those that work with Ebola, Marburg etc.. Those diseases are what give most physicians the creeps; dead within days from multiple organ failure.

[perochan]

too much power is gonna kill us.

[Arceles]

And then Resident Evil sounds very plausible now...

Edit: The name of the virus? T1.

[Gerowen]

Why is the news that they did it even out? It should be quietly released to the medical community after a vaccine/treatment is developed, and never officially announced. Those scientists just made themselves and their facilities targets for extremists.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I'm still waiting for Alex Mercer to show up.

:rofl:

[Pam14160]

. . ."The Stand." :woot:

[Osiris]

All they did was modify the avion bird flu to be transmittable between ferrets...which yes means it could be contagious among humans. I dont understand the scientific value of them doing this, however seems to be alot of literature out there for and against so there is obviously some scientific value to it.

In any case I think we can all agree this is the start of the zombie apocalypse. My personal recommendation is to stack up on a sword, gun and leathers (seriously dont try to survive the apocolypse in shirts n shorts).

[HighwayGlider]

lol whats the need of creating something like that?

[DocM]

Having a real, live, transmissable bug to test vaccines & drugs on. Computer models don't always cut it, and someday H1N1 will do it on its own so they want to be prepared.