Sealed up in the lower levels of a medical faculty building in Rotterdam, the Netherlands lies a genetically altered flu strain which could potentially cause a pandemic which could kill half of the world’s population.

Virologist, Ron Fouchier, of Erasmus Medical Center, is the man behind the microscopes responsible for developing the supervirus from the H5N1 avian influenza strain. His alterations have made the virus easily transmissible between ferrets, which are the mammals which most closely mimic humans response to flu. Ten generations after the initial research, the virus had become airborne, capable of infecting healthy ferrets simply by placing them in cages next to infected ones.

Ferrets aren’t humans, but in studies to date, any influenza strain that has been able to pass among ferrets has also been transmissible among humans, and vice versa, says Fouchier: “That could be different this time, but I wouldn’t bet any money on it.

What makes the research particularly alarming is the virus’s power to kill. Half of all known cases have been fatal, and although real-case fatality would likely be lower, due to unreported instances of milder cases, scientists do not dispute the virus’s considerable capacity to kill.

Fouchier and his team are now making headlines as they deliberate whether or not to make their findings publicly available. The research could hold enormous benefits for both the scientific and medical communities however, there is also serious concern regarding the repercussions if the formula were to fall in the wrong hands. If the strain were to be weaponised the entire planet would be at risk.

Considering the risk of enormous collateral damage, it must be asked why the research was even conducted in the first place.

The research by…Fouchier…set out to answer a question that has long puzzled scientists: Does H5N1, which rarely causes human disease, have the potential to trigger a pandemic? The virus has decimated poultry flocks on three continents but has caused fewer than 600 known cases of flu in humans since it emerged in Asia in 1997, although those rare human cases are often fatal. Because the virus spreads very inefficiently between humans it has been unable to set off a chain reaction and circle the globe.

Opinion is split as to whether the research should be published or not, and although most scientists can agree on the value on the research, dissemination of the information is another case entirely.

Having recently watched Contagion, a movie which sees the world fall victim to a devastating pandemic and how the population is affected, I can only hope that the only version of Fouchier’s superflu that the public ever sees is in print.

[Source: ScienceInsider]