In Washington, a scientist created an easier-to-spread version of the bird flu that would be used for testing. This scientist believes that people shouldn’t be as fearful of this experiment.
When the bird flu strikes it is deadly. However, this is very rare and usually only occurs when a human is in contact with infected poultry. Bird flu is deadly because of its ability to mutate and potentially cause a pandemic. “Researchers in the Netherlands and Wisconsin were studying how that might happen when they created bird flu strains that at least some mammals — ferrets — can spread by coughing or sneezing.” This means that the scientists are testing the virus and observing its mutations to further understand the virus.
This experiment caused a lot of controversy. Bioterrorism was one concern and U.S. health officials urged the details be kept secret. Critics also feared that there could be a lab accident where the virus could escape and possibly start an epidemic.
However, on Wednesday Dr. Ron Fouchier of the Netherlands' Erasmus University told a group of U.S. scientists that the virus did not kill the ferrets. Also, those ferrets that have previously been exposed to the flu virus were protected. This experiment gives scientist a better understanding of the bird flu.
This article is significant because the bird flu has the potential to cause an epidemic if it is not monitored by scientists. This kind of experiment may be controversial but it is crucial. We need to protect ourselves from this deadly virus and understand how it can mutate. This article directly relates to our class since we are studying the influenza epidemic that occurred in 1918. I think its interesting how epidemics of the past have the potential to reoccur. The outbreak of influenza in the past was horrific and scientists need to study the virus to make sure that will never happen again.
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20120229/US.MED.Bird.Flu/
This post is very interesting. I think that it is scary that scientists have the ability to create such deadly diseases. Although the strains of the diseases and viruses are used solely for testing and making vaccines, it is still unsettling to know that the disease is out there and may result in bioterrorism. I also thought this article was interesting because it relates to the video we watched in class. In the video, one of the scientists wanted to recreate the deadly 1918 influenza virus, but was faced with challenges by those who opposed him. I think that scientists should only recreate these deadly viruses if they are fairly certain that an act of bioterrorism will not occur.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andrea that this article was very interesting. I, personally, trust these scientists to do their job correctly and therefore have little fear in bioterrorism. In order to perform such an experiment, these scientists have to be highly educated and aware of what they are taking on. Their experiments on the bird flu can help us to understand the virus better. This post relates to what we’re doing in class right now because we’re talking about the influenza pandemic of 1918. The Bird flu is deadly because of its ability to mutate and potentially cause a pandemic and influenza works in a similar way. We learned that even if you get a flu shot, you can still get the flu because there are different strains of it, and the shot only protects you from the most common one.
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