A group of scientists is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilisation.
The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time.
The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out.
Check out The Demon in the Freezer. Good book on smallpox in particular, but tells about a gathering of virologists some years back in which some Australian researchers had a display on how they modified a mousepox virus and it became a 100% killer on mice; some at the meeting saw it and blew gaskets that they had it out in the open, as the same method could be used to modify all kinds of viruses.
ReplyDelete@Firehand..Thanks for the headsup on that :) I added it to my amazon wish list !
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