Bird flu frankenstein experiment by CDC

Here's a fascinating story on bird flu genetic changes.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) actually tried to produce a contagious form of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in a laboratory.

They used the 1997 Hong Kong strain of H5N1 and set up an environment where it could recombine with genetic elements of an ordinary seasonal flu (H3N2). They then exposed ferrets to the resulting virus.

It turns out that the recombined strain of the virus proved no more contagious by aerosol between the ferrets than did the original H5N1.

(Ferrets get ordinary influenza very easily, just as we do, so they are a good experimental substitute for people.)

And yet the new virus was not as lethal as the original H5N1.

Of course, results in nature may not be so wonderful.

It could be that in real life H5N1 could still recombine with genetic elements from ordinary flu to become contagious and still lethal.

Or, as the article points out, the H1N1 strain that caused the 1918 flu arrived at its highly lethal state through a series of small mutatations, not genetic reassortment. (Although reassortment is how the 1957 and 1968 flu pandemic occurred).

Also, the H5N1 strain used was pretty old -- from 1997. New strains are already genetically different. Why don't they use the strain found in the Indonesian family Karo cluster in May 2006?

And of course, the strain of ordinary flu used is just one of many. It's possible that H5N1 could recombine more easily with other strains.

The CDC is going to run additional such experiments.

bird flu experiment

scientific paper itself

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Bird Flu Experiment
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