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posted by mrpg on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the humans-beware dept.

Scientists have found that three mutations are needed to make the H7N9 strain of bird flu more virulent in humans:

A study published Thursday shows how a bird flu virus that's sickening and killing people in China could mutate to potentially become more contagious. Just three changes could be enough to do the trick, scientists report [open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006390] [DX] in the journal PLOS Pathogens. And the news comes just as federal officials are getting ready to lift a moratorium on controversial lab experiments that would deliberately create flu viruses with mutations like these.

Public health officials have been worried about this bird flu virus, called H7N9, because it's known to have infected more than 1,500 people — and killed 40 percent of them. So far, unlike other strains that more commonly infect humans, this deadly virus does not spread easily between people.

[...] It turns out that three small mutations made the fragment bind far more strongly to receptors found on human cells than to receptors from bird cells. Scientists know, from studying strains that led to past pandemics, that this kind of switch appears to be involved in enabling a bird flu virus to become transmissible between people. "All we've done is to look at one of the properties that we're pretty certain is important," says Paulson, who cautions that additional genetic mutations might be necessary for this virus to become more contagious in humans. "So, just because we've changed the one property doesn't mean that that property alone is sufficient to let the virus transmit."

Thank you very much, I'll be in my lab.


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  • (Score: 2) by lentilla on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:15PM (1 child)

    by lentilla (1770) on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:15PM (#527076)

    Up until yesterday [soylentnews.org], I would have promoted wide-scale adoption of wind generation as a solution to this looming threat. Deal with global warming and a global pandemic at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone, as they say...

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 18 2017, @01:50PM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday June 18 2017, @01:50PM (#527452) Journal

      Wind generation? I don't think we generally need more wind. ;-)

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:24PM (#527079)

    Thank you very much, I'll be in my lab.

    Have you started a kickstarter for it yet?

  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:58PM (6 children)

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:58PM (#527095) Journal

    Seems we just need to wait for some DIY bioengineering lab to make something deliberate or by mistake. It's not that hard any longer to "write DNA".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:20AM (#527216)

      It's probably already modified and in some not-so-secure lab waiting.

    • (Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:50AM (2 children)

      by KGIII (5261) on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:50AM (#527229) Journal

      Hold on. I'll order a CRISPR.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
      • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:31AM (1 child)

        by kaszz (4211) on Sunday June 18 2017, @05:31AM (#527358) Journal

        And you need to know which sites that are the right ones to modify and to which code.

        • (Score: 2) by KGIII on Sunday June 18 2017, @06:16AM

          by KGIII (5261) on Sunday June 18 2017, @06:16AM (#527371) Journal

          LOL I'd not even say I'm a layman, with regards to the process. I'd be pretty harmless operating a CRIPR.

          --
          "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @02:37PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @02:37PM (#527472)

      Mother Nature is already working on it.

      Minor correction: influenza uses RNA as its genome.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @03:52PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @03:52PM (#527495)

      Already been done (and presumably worse than bird flu): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-controversial-us-scientist-creates-deadly-new-flu-strain-for-pandemic-research-9577088.html [independent.co.uk]

      http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/researchers-may-have-created-h1n1-flu-strain-capable-evading-immune-system/ [iflscience.com]

      We are at the tech stage where we should stop blindly researching or doing things just because they can be done, or because some scientists need to "publish or perish".

      Even if you say "someone else will do it if I don't" as history shows, often that someone else only does it years or decades later, and that may buy us enough time. Or many of us here might already be dead and not care :).

  • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @08:23PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @08:23PM (#527131)

    First, we develop a vaccine. We vaccinate atheists, christians, buddhists, and possibly sikh or jain. Skip anybody who advocates for those not on the list.

    Second, we spread the virus everywhere. Each embassy can have a drone they launch that sprays a fine mist over the host city.

    Third, as the epidemic takes off, we bomb stuff. Hit medical facilities, water treatment plants, electrical power generation, broadcast transmitters, and internet cables.

    • (Score: 2) by Hartree on Saturday June 17 2017, @09:17PM (1 child)

      by Hartree (195) on Saturday June 17 2017, @09:17PM (#527148)

      If you bomb the water treatment plants, hospitals, electric power generation, radio and the internet it's going to shut down so much that in a large city it's not going to matter if you're immune. To hell with the flu. Thirst, cholera, hunger (much of food distribution is hampered) mean everyone gets it. It's a bit like trying to get rid of your legs by massively burning them with no medical attention. The rest of you will die of infection, etc.

      Ah... I see. You want to watch this all from your evil overlord lair far away and full of sexy fembots and the like.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:52PM (#527181)

        It's not easy to go bombing advanced nations with nukes, but you have to do that for the final blow. The virus gets most people too ill to fight back.

        The virus alone would kill only 40%. You can increase the mortality by disabling the medical response. The goal is supply-chain collapse for the entire economy. Disease resistance goes down during mass starvation.

        In one's own country, a slightly different tactic is used. Instead of bombing hospitals, you just turn away any undesirables. Give them pills to keep them active, helping them to spread the disease to friends and family. Something like slow-release methamphetamine or slow-release cocaine would do nicely.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:45PM

      by linkdude64 (5482) on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:45PM (#527180)

      What the fuck is wrong with you?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:13AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18 2017, @12:13AM (#527215)

      I like this, except I would also leave Christians off the list as well.

      Actually I'd just propose offering the vaccine to everybody who doesn't worship the god of Abraham (Muslims, Jews, Christians, etc). Maybe we can make an exception for Mormons since although they're fairly insane what with their magic underwear, at least they're polite to others who don't share their insanity.

      The thing I really like about this is that since it involves a vaccine, presumably Darwin will also cleanse the gene pool of the anti-vaxxer nonsense.

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