THE 1918 flu infected virtually everyone on the planet within a year of its appearance. It made about a third of them sick, 3 per cent of whom died 鈥� and those are conservative estimates. So the virus killed at least 1 per cent of humanity.
In 1919 the killer disappeared 鈥� but now it is back, painstakingly reconstructed from hospital specimens and bodies preserved in Arctic permafrost. 杏吧原创s have rebuilt the 1918 virus and are studying it to see what made it so deadly (鈥淏ird flu warning from replica virus ints at鈥�). Without a doubt, this is a triumph for virology 鈥� and for scientific curiosity. We want to know what made 1918 flu so different from other flu viruses, especially since we know that sooner or later its relatives will launch another pandemic.
Yet somewhere a voice is screaming: they鈥檝e reconstructed one of the most deadly viruses of all time! They are studying it in live mice, and at only the second-highest level of biological containment. The people handling it are not wearing full protective suits, but merely taking antiviral drugs that may not be totally effective. If someone catches the infection, it could prove impossible to contain.
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Is the work worth the risk, given that our immediate problem is not the 1918 virus but knowing what form the next flu pandemic might take? The latest work has found that H5N1 bird flu, the leading candidate for the next pandemic, is evolving in similar ways to its 1918 relative. So there may be real dividends from finding out what made that monster tick. But is it being handled with the respect it deserves? Why is the work not at the highest level of biosecurity?
We are solemnly informed in a press release that the editor of the journal Science, and a few top US science and health officials, say it鈥檚 OK. That鈥檚 nice, but it smacks of a self-regulating industry saying 鈥渢rust us鈥�. Science is not supposed to be done by imprimatur. What reasoning led to this decision?
As it happens, we all have some immunity to the 1918 family of viruses because the Soviet Union accidentally released a milder one in the 1970s. Would that counter the 1918 virus? Has anyone done the tests? The level of biosecurity adopted for this virus potentially affects us all and the choice should be made in a transparent manner. Congratulations on recreating 1918 flu. Now tell us why we shouldn鈥檛 be scared.
