Scientists Debate Publishing Recipe For Man-Made Doomsday Super-Flu
Posted by Justin on November 28th, 2011
Although Bird Flu panics have come and gone since the late 90s, we have always had diligent scientists on the side of humanity, safe guarding us from these outbreaks. But since all has been quiet on the western front for a few years now, it appears as if several of these eggheads have grown bored enough to cook up a super contagious mutation of the virus.
They are now debating if they should release the recipe for such a vile concoction, which they guest-imate could kill half of humanity, to the world. Because that seems like a great idea.
A genetic study showed that the new, dangerous strain had only five mutations compared to the original one, and all of them were earlier seen in the natural environment – just not all at once. Fouchier’s strain is as contagious as the human seasonal flu, which kills tens of thousands of people each year, but is likely to cause many more fatalities if released.
“I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one,” Paul Keim, a microbial geneticist who has worked on anthrax for many years, told Science Insider. “I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.”
Some argue that the release of the data would allow for humanity to better prepare for a pandemic of this kind of deadly strain.
[RT]
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