The benefits and risks of “gain-of-function” research into highly pathogenic microbes with pandemic potential must be evaluated, scientists say
A group of over 50 researchers has called on the European Commission to hold a scientific briefing on research that involves engineering microbes to make them more deadly.
In a December 18 letter to European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, the scientists—including representatives from the non-profit Foundation for Vaccine Research in Washington, D.C.—urged the commission to organize the briefing, and to formally evaluate the risks and benefits of such “gain-of-function” research.
“Gain-of-function research into highly pathogenic microbes with pandemic potential has global implications for public health,” says Ian Lipkin, an infectious disease researcher at Columbia University in New York, who is one of the signatories of the letter. “We are not seeking to shut down all gain-of-function research, but asking that stakeholders meet to establish guidelines for doing it.”
The recent controversy over gain-of-function studies began in 2011 when Ron Fouchier, a virologist at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, sought to publish a study detailing how his team had engineered H5N1 avian influenza strains that could infect ferrets in separate cages through the air. Avian flu infections can be deadly for humans, but presently circulating strains of the virus are specific to birds and rarely infect mammals.
Proponents of the work say that it provides insight into how avian flu strains could naturally evolve to become more dangerous —results that could inform flu surveillance as well as vaccine and drug development. Opponents say that the work is too risky, because it involves engineering a deadly form of flu that could escape from research facilities or, in the wrong hands, could be intentionally released to cause a pandemic.
The Latest on: Mutant Flu-Strain Research
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Mutant Flu-Strain Research” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Mutant Flu-Strain Research
- Birding: Avian flu deserves concern but not panicon May 10, 2024 at 5:59 am
People keeping hobby chickens, which often mingle in the yard with wild birds, may want to avoid direct contact with their birds or spending time in the chicken coop without a mask and gloves.
- Universal Flu Vaccine May No Longer Be a Long Shoton May 1, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The severity of flu infections is as variable as the strains that cause the disease ... First, Heaton’s team aimed to create a group of mutated hemagglutinin proteins with a wide variety ...
- Florida dolphin dies of 'mutated' bird flu that is 18 TIMES more resistant to drug treatmenton April 29, 2024 at 9:16 am
A bottlenose dolphin in Florida has become one of the latest mammals to die from bird flu ... deadly strain. The team discovered the virus in the mammal's brain and lungs, which had mutated ...
- Mutated Strains of Unknown Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found Lurking on ISSon April 17, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Photo: NASA The International Space Station (ISS) is home to crews of astronauts conducting research ... look at bacterial strains on board the ISS and found that they had mutated to a different ...
- New mutant strain of mpox with ‘pandemic potential’ discovered as health chiefs call for ‘urgent measures’on April 17, 2024 at 6:49 am
A MUTANT strain of mpox with "new pandemic potential" has been discovered in a small town in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to research ... causing flu-like symptoms and ...
- New mutant strain of monkeypox with 'pandemic potential' is discovered in Congo village - as health officials call for 'urgent measures' to contain iton April 16, 2024 at 12:52 pm
A mutant strain of monkeypox with 'pandemic potential ... while 10 per cent were hospitalized. The research was led by Congolese scientists in collaboration with experts across Africa, Europe ...
- Mutated strain of mpox with ‘pandemic potential’ found in DRC mining townon April 16, 2024 at 10:13 am
A mutated strain ... A concerning new strain of mpox with “pandemic potential” has been found in a mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to new research.
- Mutated strain of mpox with ‘pandemic potential’ found in DRC mining townon April 15, 2024 at 5:00 pm
A concerning new strain of mpox with “pandemic potential” has been found in a mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to new research ... Now a mutated strain of this ...
- Mutated strain of mpox with ‘pandemic potential’ found in DRC mining townon April 15, 2024 at 5:00 pm
A concerning new strain of mpox with “pandemic potential” has been found in a mining town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to new research ... of fatalities were among children. Now a ...
- Overall COVID and flu cases slowing, JN.1 variant spreading quicklyon January 19, 2024 at 5:10 pm
Flu is trending down and COVID numbers are mixed, with COVID's JN.1 variant thought to be more severe and growing. At the end of December, the JN.1 variant, a mutated strain of the omicron variant ...
via Bing News