In mid February a small conference of scientists will meet in Geneva to discuss what to do about the H5N1 situation.
Two colleges, one in Michigan and one in the Netherlands, have announced (or perhaps the information was leaked given the circumstances) that airborne infections of the h5n1, a variant of h1n1, have been observed between ferrets in their experimentation. It took ten manual infections from ferret to ferret for it to become airborne. The information we know about this is limited because nations globally, including leading scientific minds, have urged that the release of the Scientific Journals based around this study be suppressed and not released. Some have argued if they are released, the information only be given to a small group of trusted individuals.
The conflict is very complex, predominantly there is a fear that this sort of thing will spark bioterrorism. Some argue that this virus could be harvested and potentially used by terrorists. It's really difficult to say whether the concerns are accurate or not because from all the research I've done to it, no one can agree for sure on the facts so it is difficult to determine which is right.
On one hand, some will argue that what we have observed of h1n1 and variant stages as a result of the Bird Flu that broke out a couple of years ago is that it has a kill rate of 50%, meaning that if 600 people go to the hospital with this strain, no matter where it was, 300 of them would die in the hospital. However some will argue that the reason this kill rate is inaccurate is that it does not factor in the possible number of infected people who never went to the hospital.
Then there is the conflict between the ferrets themselves. Some will argue that the ferrets, which after 10 infections from ferret to ferret the virus mutated to be airborne, demonstrate just how quickly and dangerous that this could be. These scientists explain the reason ferrets are used for experimentation is because they behave in similar ways to human more so than traditional lab rats when it comes to influenza- ferrets cough, sneeze and such forth just like humans do. Others will argue that ferrets are not an accurate model for how this will transfer with humans because of important fundamental differences in biology between humans and ferrets.
Even the decision of not publishing the findings of these studies is multifaceted. There are some scientists who argue that these studies cannot be release because of the risk of people duplicating the experiments, including terrorists who might replicate it to use it as a bioweapon. The other side of this issue will argue that not to publish the findings is a crime to the Scientific Community, in turn partially because of the inability for it to be reproduced to prove it's merit. It has also been argued that with the current information that has been leaked, an individual could reproduce the virus without the study being released for the only thing missing is the genetic sequence to do so, which could be guessed.
I personally can't say I have an opinion on this because I am not a scientist and I just don't think I have enough information- and even if I did have enough information, I'm not sure if I'd have the capacity to see all areas of this issue and what could potentially erupt from it. But I find this fascinating.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue?
Two colleges, one in Michigan and one in the Netherlands, have announced (or perhaps the information was leaked given the circumstances) that airborne infections of the h5n1, a variant of h1n1, have been observed between ferrets in their experimentation. It took ten manual infections from ferret to ferret for it to become airborne. The information we know about this is limited because nations globally, including leading scientific minds, have urged that the release of the Scientific Journals based around this study be suppressed and not released. Some have argued if they are released, the information only be given to a small group of trusted individuals.
The conflict is very complex, predominantly there is a fear that this sort of thing will spark bioterrorism. Some argue that this virus could be harvested and potentially used by terrorists. It's really difficult to say whether the concerns are accurate or not because from all the research I've done to it, no one can agree for sure on the facts so it is difficult to determine which is right.
On one hand, some will argue that what we have observed of h1n1 and variant stages as a result of the Bird Flu that broke out a couple of years ago is that it has a kill rate of 50%, meaning that if 600 people go to the hospital with this strain, no matter where it was, 300 of them would die in the hospital. However some will argue that the reason this kill rate is inaccurate is that it does not factor in the possible number of infected people who never went to the hospital.
Then there is the conflict between the ferrets themselves. Some will argue that the ferrets, which after 10 infections from ferret to ferret the virus mutated to be airborne, demonstrate just how quickly and dangerous that this could be. These scientists explain the reason ferrets are used for experimentation is because they behave in similar ways to human more so than traditional lab rats when it comes to influenza- ferrets cough, sneeze and such forth just like humans do. Others will argue that ferrets are not an accurate model for how this will transfer with humans because of important fundamental differences in biology between humans and ferrets.
Even the decision of not publishing the findings of these studies is multifaceted. There are some scientists who argue that these studies cannot be release because of the risk of people duplicating the experiments, including terrorists who might replicate it to use it as a bioweapon. The other side of this issue will argue that not to publish the findings is a crime to the Scientific Community, in turn partially because of the inability for it to be reproduced to prove it's merit. It has also been argued that with the current information that has been leaked, an individual could reproduce the virus without the study being released for the only thing missing is the genetic sequence to do so, which could be guessed.
I personally can't say I have an opinion on this because I am not a scientist and I just don't think I have enough information- and even if I did have enough information, I'm not sure if I'd have the capacity to see all areas of this issue and what could potentially erupt from it. But I find this fascinating.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue?
