Bird flu: 'risky' research 'vital to prevent pande

Bird flu: 'risky' research 'vital to prevent pandemic'

Scientist says H1N1 strain of bird flu could kill millions unless a ban on controversial research is lifted


LAST UPDATED AT 11:07 ON Wed 27 May 2015


An outbreak of bird flu could be as deadly as the Spanish flu pandemic unless further research into human transmission of the virus is allowed, a leading infectious diseases expert has warned.

Professor Derek Smith from Cambridge University was part of team that genetically modified the virus to pass from human to human, but research was brought to end in 2012 by fears that the information could be hijacked by terrorists and used as a bioweapon.

The H1N1 virus has killed an estimated 360 people and millions of birds worldwide since 2003 and is not yet naturally transmissible between humans. However, Smith warns that the disease only needs a handful of mutations before that would be possible, and that they are already occurring in the wild.

A moratorium on research risks leaving the world exposed to a pandemic as deadly as the outbreak in 1918 which killed 50 million people, warned Smith, according to the Daily Telegraph.

"Remember how dangerous a flu pandemic can be," he said. "Was it really the right decision back then to stop this research?"

Smith also said that the team of scientists who worked on mutating the virus had received death threats because the work was so controversial, and that this had had a "chilling effect" on future research.

"We are in a situation where we could actually know more information about this virus. Within a couple of months we could know how it could transmit between humans and how likely that is to happen," he said.

"If that virus in our lab emerged today it would be as devastating as in 1918. We don't know how likely that is but we would be a lot closer to knowing if the research could continue."




http://www.theweek.co.uk/bird-flu/61360/bird-flu-risky-research-vital-to-prevent-pandemic