Hi all, If you are feeling a bit hot, with today’s warm weather, here is a way to make your blood run cold, have a listen to the ABC Radio National Health Report story about Bird Flu research. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/health-report-23-january-2012/3785124
Not only could this lead to the massive loss of wild and domestic birds, that has already been the risk, now some bright sparks have worked out, and all but published, HOW TO make the virus air transmissible in mammals with, I think they said, SIXTY PERCENT mortality – FAR higher than the post WWI flu pandemic had. This research was also undertaken in not highest safety labs.
I am all for free exchange of scientific knowledge, this is VERY scary. Thankfully world scientists have taken action to try to keep this genie in its bottle.
Wendy ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Yep, I think this story is just a media scare. I’m not worried. It’s worth noting that the research lab put a 60 day moratorium on the viral research due to the unfounded media fear. There is negligible risk of escape, and no evidence this particular strain can infect humans either.
Jeremy
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Wendy,
The genie is already out of the bottle. The fact that the Dutch and American researchers announced last year, that it is possible to tweak the H5N1 virus so that it is able to jump from birds to animals, would be enough for others to try it themselves. Unfortunately the most likely candidates to attempt this, would not have the best interests of a large part of the worlds population at heart. The mortality figures I have read run between 40% and 60%. It would certainly solve the problems of the world’s population and global warming at the same time.
Mother nature may beat them to it though. There was an article in Nature in 2004, warning that H5N1 was mutating and that it may be able to jump to mammalian species in the future.
Carl Clifford
Hi all, If you are feeling a bit hot, with today’s warm weather, here is a way to make your blood run cold, have a listen to the ABC Radio National Health Report story about Bird Flu research. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/health-report-23-january-2012/3785124
Not only could this lead to the massive loss of wild and domestic birds, that has already been the risk, now some bright sparks have worked out, and all but published, HOW TO make the virus air transmissible in mammals with, I think they said, SIXTY PERCENT mortality – FAR higher than the post WWI flu pandemic had. This research was also undertaken in not highest safety labs.
I am all for free exchange of scientific knowledge, this is VERY scary. Thankfully world scientists have taken action to try to keep this genie in its bottle.
Wendy ===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Personally, I would worry much more about H5N1 making the jump between birds and mammals in China of its own accord. It’s a fairly common practise there to keep pigs and chickens in the same farm. Pigs are often receptive to avian flu, but are also close enough to us that it allows any mutation in pigs to have a high chance of being able to infect humans too. Thankfully, we have considerably better healthcare systems in place than were about in the 1918-19 epidemic, both in terms of containment and treatment. Something also worth noting is that while a high percentage of cases of H5N1 in people have resulted in mortality, the majority of those who contracted it were immune-deficient in the first place, not only making it easier for them to become infected, but also to succumb to it. As for the risible claim that ‘terrorists’ can use this information (which the US have been bandying around), they often tend to struggle in obtaining the level of competitive funding needed to be able to do that level of lab work. I’d say the US are more worried about a state player getting their hands on the info. Cheers,
Tony
Just listening. Given the number of misbehaving scientists I’ve known or know about I’m not as hopeful as you Wendy, on attempts to keep the genie in the bottle. Denise
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
http://birding-aus.org ===============================