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Thread: 3796 From frozen Alaska to the lab: a virus 39,000 times more virulent than flu
3796 From frozen Alaska to the lab: a virus 39,000 times more virulent than flu
user name
 2006-12-29 18:21:49 

  


  

    Subject: GMW: From ;frozen Alaska to the lab: a virus 39,000 times more

virulent than flu


From: "GM WATCH" < infogmwatch.org>  &nbsp;


 


 


GM WATCH daily


http://www.gmwatch.org


---


COMMENT FROM&nbsp;GLENN&nbsp;ASHTON:


 


This ;is another nail in the&nbsp;coffin of&nbsp;genetic&nbsp;determinism; ;note in the 


article that the virulence ;was found to not&nbsp;be&nbsp;controlled by&nbsp;any&nbsp;one 


gene,&nbsp;but ;a combination&nbsp;of all eight.


&nbsp;


As&nbsp;for the bloody fools thinking&nbsp;that ;they can contain this baby in a&nbsp;


lab,&nbsp;well,&nbsp;hello.&nbsp;Where&nbsp;did&nbsp;the ;anthrax&nbsp;used&nbsp;just ;post 9/11 come from? 


Mars or the US&nbsp;Biowarfare labs at&nbsp;Ft ;Detrich?


 


It never ceases to&nbsp;amaze&nbsp;me&nbsp;how supposedly&nbsp;smart&nbsp;scientists are in&nbsp;


reality so absolutely ;dumb as far as&nbsp;common&nbsp;sense&nbsp;goes.&nbsp;But&nbsp;then ;if they 


were all smart, we wouldnt have GM&nbsp;crops,&nbsp;would&nbsp;we?


---


From&nbsp;frozen Alaska to&nbsp;the&nbsp;lab: ;a virus 39,000 times more virulent than 


flu


&nbsp;


Tight security to prevent 'select agent' escaping


 


Publication&nbsp;of ;its genetic ;code raises ;fears ;of misuse


&nbsp;


Ian&nbsp;Sample,&nbsp;science correspondent


The Guardian,&nbsp;October&nbsp;6,&nbsp;2005


http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1585716,00.html


&nbsp;


Only a&nbsp;handful&nbsp;of&nbsp;scientists have security clearance&nbsp;to access the 


laboratory at&nbsp;1600&nbsp;Clifton&nbsp;Road&nbsp;in Atlanta,&nbsp;Georgia, home&nbsp;to&nbsp;the US 


government's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.&nbsp;Before


entering, they&nbsp;


must pull on&nbsp;a protective&nbsp;hood,&nbsp;don&nbsp;breathing apparatus and pass 


through ;electronic fingerprint ;and retina scanners&nbsp;to prove their


identity.


&nbsp;


Inside the lab&nbsp;lies&nbsp;a batch of a&nbsp;virus,&nbsp;designated a&nbsp;"select agent", 


that more than justifies&nbsp;the extreme&nbsp;level&nbsp;of security.&nbsp;Resurrected 


nearly&nbsp;90 years after it spread around the globe, leaving an estimated 50 


million&nbsp;people&nbsp;dead,&nbsp;it is a&nbsp;replica of&nbsp;the ;1918 Spanish&nbsp;flu virus.


&nbsp;


The&nbsp;recreation of the&nbsp;virus, which was&nbsp;driven&nbsp;by&nbsp;an urge to unravel why 


the 1918 pandemic was so&nbsp;devastating, has raised as many fears as&nbsp;it 


has ;hopes.&nbsp;While&nbsp;the researchers argue the&nbsp;work&nbsp;will&nbsp;hugely&nbsp;improve&nbsp;


protection&nbsp;against&nbsp;natural flu&nbsp;viruses, critics say there is&nbsp;a real


danger 


the virus will escape, with potentially&nbsp;disastrous consequences.


 


The recreation&nbsp;process was&nbsp;laborious. Scientists&nbsp;collected fragments of 


the virus from lung tissue taken from victims at the&nbsp;time&nbsp;and ;preserved&nbsp;


in&nbsp;formalin or, in&nbsp;one ;case, ;isolated&nbsp;from&nbsp;the ;lungs ;of a&nbsp;woman&nbsp;victim 


whose body had later become frozen in&nbsp;the&nbsp;Alaskan&nbsp;permafrost. Using the 


fragments, they&nbsp;painstakingly&nbsp;pieced&nbsp;together and&nbsp;read&nbsp;the ;complete&nbsp;


genetic code before using the sequence to rebuild the virus from scratch.


 ;


By ;injecting&nbsp;it&nbsp;into ;mice, ;the team led by&nbsp;Dr ;Jeffery&nbsp;Taubenberger at 


the Armed Forces Institute&nbsp;of Pathology&nbsp;in Maryland&nbsp;was ;able to 


establish&nbsp;just&nbsp;how ;ferociously effective it was, compared with more


common flu&nbsp;


strains. All the mice&nbsp;infected died within a&nbsp;few&nbsp;days;&nbsp;all infected&nbsp;


with&nbsp;contemporary ;strains&nbsp;recovered. "I&nbsp;didn't expect it&nbsp;to ;be as lethal 


as it&nbsp;was,"&nbsp;Dr ;Terrence&nbsp;Tumpey, a&nbsp;scientist on&nbsp;the ;project&nbsp;from&nbsp;the US 


Centres&nbsp;of Disease ;Control&nbsp;and ;Prevention, told the&nbsp;journal Nature.


 


By creating&nbsp;flu ;strains&nbsp;with&nbsp;only ;certain&nbsp;parts&nbsp;of the 1918 virus, 


researchers investigated&nbsp;which&nbsp;of the eight genes that make up&nbsp;the&nbsp;virus&nbsp;


were&nbsp;most&nbsp;responsible for its&nbsp;virulence. They discovered&nbsp;that&nbsp;rather&nbsp;than&nbsp;


being&nbsp;caused by&nbsp;one ;or two genes, they all&nbsp;played a&nbsp;part,&nbsp;which&nbsp;


suggests that the&nbsp;virus&nbsp;had&nbsp;completely adapted to cause disease in


humans,&nbsp;


something ;they say could happen again with avian flu strains.


&nbsp;


In&nbsp;a second paper, published&nbsp;in ;Nature&nbsp;today,&nbsp;Dr Taubenberger and&nbsp;


colleagues&nbsp;at the US&nbsp;Centres for&nbsp;Disease Control and Protection


analysed ;the 


genetic&nbsp;make-up of&nbsp;the ;recreated&nbsp;virus. Surprisingly,&nbsp;they&nbsp;found&nbsp;it had 


no similarities&nbsp;to ;any of the&nbsp;human&nbsp;viruses in&nbsp;circulation, suggesting&nbsp;


that the&nbsp;Spanish strain had jumped from birds to&nbsp;humans,&nbsp;and&nbsp;didn't&nbsp;mix&nbsp;


with&nbsp;a human virus first, ;as had been believed.


&nbsp;


The&nbsp;finding&nbsp;that&nbsp;Spanish flu&nbsp;came&nbsp;straight from&nbsp;birds&nbsp;has&nbsp;raised&nbsp;


concerns among scientists.&nbsp;Previously, a pandemic was only thought


likely if&nbsp;


an&nbsp;avian&nbsp;strain&nbsp;merged with&nbsp;a ;human ;flu virus. "For me, it&nbsp;raises even&nbsp;


more concern than I&nbsp;already had&nbsp;about&nbsp;the&nbsp;pending&nbsp;potential of&nbsp;a ;flu 


pandemic," said Professor Ronald Atlas, ;co-director of&nbsp;the&nbsp;centre&nbsp;for ;the 


deterrence of&nbsp;biowarfare and bioterrorism&nbsp;at the University&nbsp;of 


Louisville in&nbsp;Kentucky. "It looks as&nbsp;though&nbsp;an&nbsp;avian&nbsp;strain&nbsp;evolved&nbsp;in


1918 and 


that led to&nbsp;the&nbsp;deadly&nbsp;outbreak, in&nbsp;much&nbsp;the ;same way as we're now&nbsp;


seeing the Asian avian flu&nbsp;strains evolve."


 ;


According to&nbsp;Dr&nbsp;Taubenberger, knowing ;what mutations&nbsp;gave&nbsp;rise&nbsp;to the 


1918 Spanish ;flu virus will help scientists&nbsp;check&nbsp;viruses&nbsp;to ;work out 


which,&nbsp;if any, are evolving to the&nbsp;point&nbsp;where&nbsp;a ;pandemic&nbsp;is ;possible.&nbsp;


The H5N1&nbsp;strain of&nbsp;bird&nbsp;flu in Asia is&nbsp;already mutating to make&nbsp;it&nbsp;more ;


suited&nbsp;to&nbsp;humans,&nbsp;he ;said.


&nbsp;


Despite the new&nbsp;insights given by&nbsp;the&nbsp;project, many&nbsp;scientists were 


alarmed&nbsp;at the recreation&nbsp;itself&nbsp;and&nbsp;particularly that the full&nbsp;genetic 


sequence&nbsp;was to be&nbsp;made&nbsp;public&nbsp;on&nbsp;an online genetic&nbsp;database.


 


"Assuming&nbsp;this&nbsp;is ;a replicant ;of the 1918 flu&nbsp;strain, if&nbsp;it got out, it&nbsp;


could initiate disease&nbsp;in humans and given the work they've done, one 


had to&nbsp;say&nbsp;it would be infectious,"&nbsp;said&nbsp;Prof ;Atlas.< 
P> Viruses&nbsp;have&nbsp;


escaped from high-security&nbsp;labs&nbsp;before.&nbsp;During&nbsp;the&nbsp;recent&nbsp;Sars


outbreak&nbsp;the ;


virus&nbsp;escaped at&nbsp;least&nbsp;twice,&nbsp;once&nbsp;in Taiwan ;and once in Singapore, 


when&nbsp;researchers became contaminated.


 


Other ;scientists warned that the&nbsp;1918&nbsp;virus's&nbsp;genetic code could easily 


be misused. Such has been the&nbsp;pace&nbsp;of progress&nbsp;in genetic&nbsp;science&nbsp;that&nbsp;


companies now build genes to&nbsp;order&nbsp;for&nbsp;customers who&nbsp;send&nbsp;in ;details&nbsp;of 


sequences they want.


 


"If the genetic sequence&nbsp;is out there on&nbsp;a ;database,&nbsp;then&nbsp;that&nbsp;is a 


clear security&nbsp;risk,"&nbsp;said&nbsp;Dr John Wood, a&nbsp;virologist at the&nbsp;National 


Institute&nbsp;for&nbsp;Biological Standards and Control, ;in Potters Bar.


&nbsp;


According to Dr&nbsp;Julie&nbsp;Gerberding, director ;of the US&nbsp;Centres for&nbsp;


Disease Control and Protection,&nbsp;a pandemic&nbsp;is unlikely&nbsp;even&nbsp;if the virus 


escapes&nbsp;because&nbsp;of ;most people's&nbsp;natural&nbsp;immunities and the


availability of 


antiviral&nbsp;drugs&nbsp;and ;flu vaccines.


 


Publication&nbsp;of ;the research&nbsp;still&nbsp;raises&nbsp;questions about the&nbsp;powers of&nbsp;


academic journals ;who take ultimate ;responsibility for publishing&nbsp;the 


papers,&nbsp;said&nbsp;Dr ;Wood. ;"That ;is some responsibility," he&nbsp;said.


 


The US National Science Advisory&nbsp;Board&nbsp;for ;Biosecurity concluded at an&nbsp;


emergency ;meeting&nbsp;last&nbsp;week ;to discuss the possible ;publication of&nbsp;the&nbsp;


papers that&nbsp;their&nbsp;benefits outweighed&nbsp;their&nbsp;risks.


 


FAQ: 1918 flu&nbsp;pandemic


 


Why ;was the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic so lethal?


 ;


The&nbsp;worst&nbsp;pandemic&nbsp;in&nbsp;human&nbsp;history,&nbsp;the&nbsp;1918&nbsp;strain&nbsp;killed&nbsp;an ;


estimated 50&nbsp;million people. Because flu viruses were unknown ;at the


time,&nbsp;no ;


isolates of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pathogen&nbsp;were&nbsp;made,&nbsp;making&nbsp;it&nbsp;impossible for&nbsp;scientists 


to study. Scientists&nbsp;believe the&nbsp;virus&nbsp;was&nbsp;originally found only in&nbsp;


birds but&nbsp;jumped to&nbsp;humans&nbsp;and&nbsp;evolved&nbsp;to ;become&nbsp;very ;infectious


 


Whom did the 1918 flu&nbsp;virus&nbsp;kill?


 


Most flu viruses kill the very&nbsp;young, the&nbsp;old&nbsp;and the infirm. But the 


Spanish ;flu was unusual in striking young, fit people extremely&nbsp;hard.&nbsp;


Even&nbsp;with&nbsp;good&nbsp;healthcare, up to&nbsp;one ;third ;of those who picked up&nbsp;the&nbsp;


infection died, many within days< P> < B> 
What ;is a&nbsp;select agent?


 


Its designation as&nbsp;a 'select ;agent'&nbsp;by US Centres for Disease Control 


and ;Prevention puts&nbsp;it&nbsp;on a list&nbsp;of&nbsp;controlled pathogens and toxins 


including ricin, smallpox virus, anthrax&nbsp;and ebola


&nbsp;


How&nbsp;secure&nbsp;is&nbsp;the virus?


&nbsp;


It&nbsp;is ;held in a&nbsp;biosafety level 3&nbsp;enhanced laboratory,&nbsp;kept ;at a&nbsp;


negative pressure&nbsp;to prevent&nbsp;air escaping.&nbsp;Workers must&nbsp;wear&nbsp;protective 


clothing,&nbsp;breathing apparatus&nbsp;and gain entry via fingerprint&nbsp;and ;retina&nbsp;


scans.


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