| Ummm... Who was it that was telling me this over dinner, about a year ago? |
| Yeah, yeah, I know, don't remind me ... |
Counter-terrorism authorities have drawn up plans to defend Australia against terrorists spreading avian influenza. The National Counter Terrorism Committee has included the use of bird flu strain H5N1 as a weapon in possible terrorism attack scenarios, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office confirmed. "It certainly is factored into the counter-terrorism plan," Mr Ruddock's spokeswoman said. Australia joins the US and Canada in treating bird flu as a possible "agri-terrorism" weapon against the West. The H5N1 strain - the most virulent type of bird flu - has so far claimed more than 60 lives in Asia. If the strain mutates into a human-to-human virus, the World Health Organisation has warned millions could die. A quarantine official said flights from countries that had detected H5N1 were closely monitored. Thermal scanners for detecting passengers with a fever are on stand-by at Australian airports in the event of a pandemic.
| H5N1 has a way to go before it can infect from human to human. There are several key mutations that haven't happened yet, though it's just a matter of time and selection pressure. The scary thing is, any good influenza virologist knows exactly what those required mutations are. And any good virologist, with a map of the genetic code, can engineer that virus. It's time-consuming and fairly expensive, and it requires some infrastructure (you can't do this in your basement). But a group of virologists with good equipment and some tech support could do it. Al-Q can't do it. But I'm worried that there people who can. |
Scientists fear the disease has spread from Asia to poultry in Europe and South America. In developments yesterday:
- TURKEY reported bird flu at a farm where 1800 birds died last week.
- HUNDREDS of chickens in Colombia were quarantined after health authorities found the first suspected cases of bird flu.
- BULGARIAN authorities tested three dead birds for the virus.
- SURVEILLANCE in Papua New Guinea has been increased as the wild bird migratory season towards Australia begins.
Canada's intelligence service, the J2 Directorate, has also warned of the potential for terrorists to use bird flu. While scientific opinion differs on how easy it may be to use it as a weapon, J2 analysts found the development of a man-made strain capable of triggering a human flu pandemic was possible.