Scientist reveals how he made bird flu that could spread between people [View all]
A scientist whose work was deemed too dangerous to publish by US biosecurity advisers revealed for the first time on Tuesday how he created a hybrid bird flu virus that is spread easily by coughs and sneezes. In a conference presentation that was webcasted live to the public, he has detailed how his team created the deadly virus.
Prof Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin-Madison described experiments that pinpointed four genetic mutations enabling the virus to spread between ferrets kept in neighbouring cages. The animals are considered the best models of how the infection might spread between people.
In December, the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) called for key sections of Kawaoka’s work to be deleted from a paper in press at the British science journal Nature, amid fears that a rogue state or bioterrorist group might use the information to create a biological weapon.
The NSABB raised similar concerns over a paper by Dr Ron Fouchier at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. That study, describing another mutant bird flu strain that can also be spread through the air between ferrets, is under consideration at the US journal Science.
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