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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| 1933 Human Flu in Korean Swine Raise Bioterror Issues |
| 2005-02-24 |
| Niman might be on to something here. It seems a manmade flu gene sequence has been in the pigs for a while. I was unable to find any info on live pig exports from North Korea to the South, but that would seem a likely source. Norks experiment on pigs and infection gets into pigs for export. In December, the biologist Henry Niman of Recombinomics, a biotechnology company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, examined the data as part of an analysis of flu sequences. He concluded that the samples contained genes from a strain of human flu virus that was created decades ago by scientists experimenting with the virus that caused the global flu pandemic of 1918. Neither the World Health Organization (WHO), which coordinates the international response to flu, nor the South Korean government have commented on the claim. But Laurie Garrett, a former journalist and analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, says that the WHO attributes the sequence to an error at the lab that deposited the information. Sang Heui Seo, one of the Korean researchers, says he is unable to comment yet, adding that "further confirmation" of the sequence "is under way at this moment". << As indicated earlier, the lab error story has some significant flaws. The explanation of computer files sent in error is not credible because there are over 30 WSN/33 sequences involved. Virtually all are slightly different from each other as well as WSN/33, although all share greater than 99% homology. The contamination is hard to understand because each of the 30 sequences is slightly different, there is no WSN/33 in the lab, and the viruses were isolated in eggs. As noted above, the sequences are being independently confirmed. Confirmation will eliminate the lab error story. However, the route of the sequences from lab to swine remains open, as does the possibility of bioterrorism. The inability to resolve the existence of the sequence after being in the public domain for almost 3 months also raises serious bioterrorism preparedness issues. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #4 I can't see any pork making its way out of North Korea. Ducks, however... |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-02-24 10:33:18 PM |
| #3 I got the point... just where there are pigs in Asia look for ponds fish and birds to be a factor too. If it is in the pigs... some pond in NK is filled with it. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-02-24 9:24:46 PM |
| #2 3dc the point is that a gene sequence somehow got from a lab into Skor pigs. Niman knows his stuff when it comes to this topic and seems to have found a smoking gun. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-24 6:26:00 PM |
| #1 lets see. There is the known cycle of ducks -> ponds -> fish -> pigs -> people that creates most flus. So this one is spotted at the pig tap point. One would expect a pond with fish having these genes and maybe some duck flying about. You wouldn't need exported pigs... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-02-24 6:02:31 PM |