Scientific inquiry, biosafety, and censorship

Investigators at the University of Wisconsin and at Erasmus University in the Netherlands have modified the H5N1 avian influenza strain so that it is not only highly virulent but also can be efficiently transmitted (at least among ferrets). Since the release of such a strain (high lethality, high transmissibility) would set the stage for a real-life version of the movie Contagion, there has been some high level angst about the wisdom of publishing the details of these experiments. This is kind of a big deal now, with a U.S. government panel appealing to two high-profile scientific journals (Nature and Science) to keep the experimental details out of the published reports of these experiments.

It appears that the scientists and institutions involved will comply with the recommendations of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. However, this work has already been presented at open scientific meetings, and detailed articles have been sent for peer review. And as Ron Fouchier, the lead investigator at Erasmus, says in today’s NY Times, “as soon as you share information with more than 10 people, the information will be on the street.” Finally, one purpose of the work was to identify those mutations that lead to greater transmissibility, so that they can be quickly detected during surveillance to help guide prevention efforts. I don’t think this can be done while simultaneously keeping those mutations a secret.

WHO update: no antibiotics and new H5N1 death

There is an article in the February 2011 Bulletin of the World Health Organization that outlines the reasons behind the shrinking antibiotic pipeline even in the setting of emerging antimicrobial resistant pathogens.  The range of reasons offered goes from the biological (the low hanging fruit has been picked) to the economic (why invest in meds that will only be taken for 7 days).  The article does offer hope in both cases by describing recent discoveries and offering potential incentive arrangements that could encourage antibiotic development and proper use.

Bulletin of the WHO (February 2011)  html or pdf

Note: World Health Day on April 7th is devoted to raising awareness around the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Although, when you read the description of World Health Day, it only talks about HIV, TB and malaria.  I wonder what it will take for the ID folk to mention a bacteria?

Finally, the WHO has announced a confirmed H5N1 related death in a 5-year old Cambodian girl. This is the first reported mortality due to avain flu since early 2010. The girl had been exposed to sick poultry during the 7-days prior to disease onset. The influenza clock keeps ticking.

Killer Flu!!!! - the video game

Do we need another distraction in our lives? I thought blogs were the last straw, but to the list of distractions we can add an educational influenza game.  Killer Flu is an Adobe Flash-based game (sorry no i-device version yet) which "allows you to learn more about how the influenza virus is transmitted and how it changes every year - which explains why you can get more than one dose of the flu over your lifetime and why vaccines need changing every year." The game gives you 180 days to infect as many people as possible using one of three scenarios: seasonal flu, re-assortment and H5N1 avian influenza.  I guess you can waste time and learn at the same time. What could be better?

Link to UK Clinical Virology Site
Lancet ID review