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Scientists Debate How To Conduct Bird Flu Research
(NPR)(Audio) This time around, fears revolve around experiments on the bird flu virus H5N1. Scientists tweaked its genes and made it more transmissible between ferrets, which are the laboratory stand-in for people. Some experts fear that if this virus ever escaped …
- February 16, 2012
- | Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, Biotechnology, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
Forum: H5N1 research tussle shows need for clear policies
(CIDRAP News) The acute need for clearer policies concerning the handling of potentially risky life-sciences research was the main theme that came across today in a Harvard forum on the controversy over studies on H5N1 avian influenza …
- February 16, 2012
- | Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
How secure are labs handling world’s deadliest pathogens?
(Reuters) Last year, labs at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam independently created mutant forms of avian influenza, known as H5N1, that can be transmitted directly among mammals. The natural strain can be caught only through …
- February 15, 2012
- | Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, International, Public Health, and Research
H5N1 Bird Flu May Be Less Deadly to Humans Than Previously Thought — Or Not
(Huffington Post) A simple math problem lies at the heart of a heated debate over whether scientists should be allowed to publish provocative research into the transmissibility of H5N1 flu. Assuming the avian virus could spread easily among people, …<
- February 15, 2012
- | Filed under Europe, North America, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
NEWS SCAN: H5N1 in Vietnam, Nepal; Hong Kong swine flu hybrids; FDA in China …
(CIDRAP) Vietnam and Nepal have each had several outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in poultry and wild birds, according to recent reports filed with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). In Vietnam, officials confirmed four outbreaks in …
- February 15, 2012
- | Filed under Asia/Pacific, South Asia, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health