H5N1 Avian Flu: Labs Producing Virulent Flu Strains

Engineered hybrids of H5N1 bird and H1N1 human flu strains have proven virulent in mice, raising the danger that a natural recombination would be deadly to humans.

For years, researchers have worried that H5N1 avian influenza would mix with human flu viruses, evolving into a form that keeps its current lethality but is far more contagious.

That hasn’t happened in the wild yet but the latest findings, published Feb. 22 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show how easily it can happen.

“Fortunately, the H5N1 viruses still lack the ability to transmit efficiently among humans.” However, the virus may soon be overcome this obstacle when it mixes with human flu strains. These are the findings of researchers led by University of Wisconsin virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka. “The next pandemic is inevitable and it will be more devastating than the last.”

Current strains of H5N1 have infected 478 people since 2003, and killed 286 of them. It’s has difficulty transmitting to humans. It requires close contact and exposure to an infected person, bird or animal.

In birds, however, H5N1 is far more contagious, and here the virus has killed tens of millions of fowl. Fortunately, cases have been concentrated in Africa and Eurasia, but as the swine flu pandemic demonstrated, any flu contagious to humans will quickly spread on a global scale. This is mainly thanks to air travel and the free movement of peoples across state boundaries.

Influenza viruses mutate and swap genes easily, with co-infections turning animals into mobile petri dishes. In 2008, hoping to learn more about how H5N1 might evolve, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention combined it with a common human flu strain.

The researchers engineered all 254 possible variants of hybridisation between the deadly H5N1 avian flu strain found in Borneo, and a, H1N1 human flu virus from Tokyo. They identified three strains that were both contagious and deadly, in mice.

A flu virus that kills mice won’t necessarily kill humans, but the results are very disturbing. All three killer hybrid strains possessed a protein taken from the human strain. Called PB2, the protein appeared to help the virus survive in the mice’s upper respiratory tract. As of now, bird flu stays in the lower respiratory tract, where it’s less likely to be casually transmitted.

Although the recent H1N1 pandemic has not proved to be as lethal as originally feared, it certainly exposed how unprepared the world is for new influenza strains. At the same time it also exposed the ability of pharmaceutical companies to frighten the WHO, governments and politicians into spending $Millions to stockpile ineffective vaccines.

In May, Hong Kong University virologist Yi Guan, best known for finding the animal origin of SARS, was asked by Science Insider about the possibility of H5N1 and swine flu mixing.

“If that happens, I will retire immediately and lock myself in a sealed laboratory", said Guan. "But, historically the Chinese mainland would be the most likely source of such a virus."

"Unfortunately, in such a situation, the imposed cover-up by local authorities would mean that the virus will have spread with a high rate of cross-infection and will have escaped globally, even before we are alerted to it's existance. We will not be alerted until it has spread to the Western world and many people have become infected and died."

China Embraces GM Strains of Rice and Corn

China has approved genetically modified strains of rice and corn in a move experts say could dramatically boost crop yields and help the world's most populous nation avoid food shortages.

The Ministry of Agriculture said it had issued initial production licences for genetically modified rice and corn, paving the way for commercial cultivation of high-yielding and pest-resistant grain and cereal crops.

In a fax to AFP this week, the ministry said the decision was "an important outcome of China's research on genetic engineering technology".

"It lays a good foundation for commercial production," the ministry said.

Further approvals are required before the genetically modified rice and corn can be grown commercially, it added.

Huang Dejun, chief analyst with Beijing Orient Agribusiness Consultant, said the government wanted the agricultural industry "to be prepared" for a potential grain shortage.

"China's grain security is guaranteed now... but it is hard to rule out the possibility (of a shortage) as living standards improve or yields slump because of a sharp decrease in the area of farming land or serious impacts of climate change," Huang said.

The technology could increase rice and corn yields by about 30 percent, Huang estimated.

Beijing said in July 2008 that it aimed to cultivate high-yielding and pest-resistant genetically modified grains as it faces the challenge of feeding its 1.3 billion people and battles shrinking arable land and climate change.

China is a major producer of genetically modified cotton and vegetables such as peppers and tomatoes.

But Greenpeace China said the commercialisation of genetically modified rice was a "dangerous genetic experiment" and called on Beijing to make public the health and environmental studies used in the certification process.

"Rice is the most important staple food for Chinese people and our babies grow up on rice," said Lorena Luo, Greenpeace China's food and agriculture campaigner.

"People have the right to know whether the rice they eat has any health risk. Who are these... scientists in the committee to make the decision for 1.3 billion people?"

No varieties of genetically modified rice are currently grown commercially in the world although several have been approved, according to the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

China produces about 20 percent of the world's corn and 30 percent of its rice, according to the US Department of Agriculture website.

China's cabinet in July 2008 approved a mid- and long-term grain security plan that aims to keep annual output above 500 million tonnes by 2010 and increase production to more than 540 million tonnes a year by 2020.

Premier Wen Jiabao said at the time that China faces serious challenges in ensuring it will have enough grain to feed its population in the decades to come, citing urbanisation and climate change as two major problems.

But at a conference on world food security in Rome last month, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said China now has a "favourable food security situation" with abundant grain reserves and sufficient supply of staple crops, according to the China Daily.