Video: Swine Flu: virus may be the result of a human error
[DigitalJournal.com - Bart B. Van Bockstaele]
Sow and Piglet (Kabuul Zoo)
An Australian researcher thinks the swine flu virus may be the result of a human error. The World Health Organization is investigating the hypothesis.
Bloomberg reports that Adrian Gibbs, an Australian who has studied germ evolution for four decades and worked on research that led to the development of Roche’s well-known anti-flu drug Tamiflu, said he intends to publish a report today that suggests the swine flu could have evolved in the eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drug makers use to make vaccines.
Gibbs and two colleagues have analyzed the genetic code of the flu virus’ eight genes. What they found is compatible with older research that indicated that the swine flu virus comes from two different strains, a North American one and a European one.
They have also found that the new virus mutates three times faster than the most closely related viruses that are known to circulate in pigs.
Gibbs says that his research shows that it is possible that the swine flu did not develop in swine but somewhere else, and a laboratory is the easiest explanation. He also says that other causes are possible. The virus could, for example, have jumped from pigs to another mammal or a bird before it started to infect humans. If the virus did escape from a laboratory, Gibbs does not think it likely that this would have been intentional, and it is much more likely that a random accident put two different viruses together.
Other experts have reviewed the report and not all of them are impressed. Nancy Cox, the director of the influenza division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says that there is no evidence to support Gibb’s conclusion.
The World Health Organization has also received the report and is reviewing it, says Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of health security and environment. He also said that if this was true, it would indicate a need for better security.
Gibbs says that he studies the evolution of the flu virus as a retirement hobby. He expects to be criticized for his work.
This is how science progresses, he said. Somebody comes up with a wild idea, and then they all pounce on it and kick you to death, and then you start off on another silly idea.
