Its close

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   very very close

Now we are very very close 

disturbing 

Kawaoka found that the hybrid virus could spread between ferrets in separate cages after acquiring just four mutations. Three of these allow the HA protein to stick to receptor molecules on mammalian cells, and the fourth stabilizes the protein. “Before we initiated this experiment, we knew that receptor specificity is important,” says Kawaoka. “We didn’t know what else was needed.”

Worryingly, some Middle Eastern H5N1 strains can already recognize human receptors. Kawaoka’s work suggests that they could be just one stabilizing mutation away from being able to spread between humans. Discovering “that HA needs to be stable to be transmissible through the air between mammals” is a key finding, says influenza virologist Wendy Barclay at Imperial College London.

http://www.nature.com/news/mutant-flu-paper-published-1.10551

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Kilt2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advisor Group Joined: December 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 469	Post Options Post Reply Quote Kilt2 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Its close Posted: May 12 2012 at 7:21am
	very very close Now we are very very close disturbing Kawaoka found that the hybrid virus could spread between ferrets in separate cages after acquiring just four mutations. Three of these allow the HA protein to stick to receptor molecules on mammalian cells, and the fourth stabilizes the protein. “Before we initiated this experiment, we knew that receptor specificity is important,” says Kawaoka. “We didn’t know what else was needed.” Worryingly, some Middle Eastern H5N1 strains can already recognize human receptors. Kawaoka’s work suggests that they could be just one stabilizing mutation away from being able to spread between humans. Discovering “that HA needs to be stable to be transmissible through the air between mammals” is a key finding, says influenza virologist Wendy Barclay at Imperial College London. http://www.nature.com/news/mutant-flu-paper-published-1.10551
	And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

HoosierMom Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Advisor Joined: June 15 2006 Status: Offline Points: 334	Post Options Post Reply Quote HoosierMom Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 13 2012 at 4:49am
	Wow, great find.

Kilt2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advisor Group Joined: December 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 469	Post Options Post Reply Quote Kilt2 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 13 2012 at 10:28pm
	Just one mutation to go, and its out and about. its all from the results of that experiment where they made a super bug by fiddling with it to see how it works. Now we know its one mutation away - so stand by for the Egyptian flu.
	And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Kilt2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advisor Group Joined: December 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 469	Post Options Post Reply Quote Kilt2 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 14 2012 at 4:56am
	On Wednesday, Nature finally published Kawaoka’s research. (We’re still waiting for the Fouchier paper, though the Dutch scientist was recently granted an export license for his work, so it should appear soon.) The sobering takeaway: avian H5N1 flu viruses in nature may be only one mutation away from spreading effectively between mammals, likely including human beings. If that happens — and if H5N1 retains its apparently sky-high mortality rate — we could be in for serious trouble. For all the controversy, the research itself is actually quite fascinating. Kawaoka and his team mutated H5N1′s hemagglutinin (HA) gene — the H in H5N1 — which produces the protein the virus needs to attach itself to host cells. They produced millions of genes, mimicking the effect of random mutation in nature, and found one version of H5N1 hemagglutinin that seems particularly effective at invading human cells. Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/03/h5n1-paper-published-deadly-transmissible-bird-flu-could-be-closer-than-thought/#ixzz1uqQ02K2a
	And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Kilt2 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Advisor Group Joined: December 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 469	Post Options Post Reply Quote Kilt2 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 15 2012 at 12:16am
	The World Health Organization now ranks Egypt second in the world, after Indonesia, in human cases of the avian flu, which thus far has reportedly killed 60 Egyptians and infected about 100 more. Recently, a strain of the virus has spread to Egyptian ducks; this new strain carries mutations that are thought to play a role in enabling transmission between mammals. This is a particularly worrisome development because some Egyptians have caught the flu from their animals, but not yet passed it onto other people. Once the virus begins to spread between humans, an epidemic becomes far, far more likely. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/egypts-real-crisis-the-dual-epidemics-quietely-ravaging-public-health/257072/
	And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

Elver Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List V.I.P. Member Joined: June 14 2008 Status: Offline Points: 898	Post Options Post Reply Quote Elver Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: May 23 2012 at 6:06pm
	I have no doubt that if they keep messing around with this virus, while trying to make a name for themselves, that they will create the pandemic. It's OK to study an existing virus, but it's not OK to try to make it worse. The fact that there are multiple labs around the world doing this makes the pandemic inevitable. The research creates the risk! Accidental escape from the lab. Theft from the lab. Too much information published for unethical people to see. This kind of research needs to stop now! Michael Osterholm sums it up, ”The desire to disseminate the entirety of the methods and results of the two H5N1 studies in the general scientific literature will not materially increase our ability to protect the public’s health from a future H5N1 pandemic,”
	Elver