Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove, and Rich Condit
Vincent, Alan, and Rich review concern over an influenza H5N1 transmission experiment, and a new host defense protein against RNA viruses.
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Links for this episode:
- Concern over H5N1 transmission experiment (CIDRAP)
- Information on NSABB
- Enserink’s overstated story (Science)
- New cell defense protein against RNA viruses (Nature Chem Biol)
- Uta Schwedler obituary (jpg)
- TWiV on Facebook
- Letters read on TWiV 159
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That method CIDRAP report is concerned about of making a microorganism more virulent (works for mortality and for transmission, depending on selection criteria) is not news. It has been publicly published to the general public twice before. Without a report of concern, the paper would have passed unnoticed, most likely.
Alibek published it in Biohazard.
Laurie Garrett published it. I believe it was in Collapse of Global Public Health.
Yes. It works. It works well. Nothing to be gained by putting one’s head in the sand.
What about this paper: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21825167 published in August this year. Here they identified the gene (specifically, the activity of NA) responsible for H1N1 transmissibility in ferrets. Although this is in a different – and less dangerous – strain, I don’t remember this kind of media attention revolving around this paper, which essentially deals with the same problem and could be used by hypothetical molecular biologist/bioterrorists.Â
We should now also take bets on what gene(s) it turns out to be.
still nothing from Palese ?
OK, some comments from
Roth,Lowen,Palese,Perez,Racaniello, Webby, (general research)
are here
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/dec2311ferrets-jw.html