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Monday, February 20, 2012

WHO allows publication of bird flu research

Via ABC News, excerpt :

" After months of controversy, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has decided to allow the publication of controversial research into bird flu.

Scientists in the Netherlands and the United States have made versions of the virus which could potentially spread more easily between humans.

There were calls for the research to be kept secret, but the WHO has decided it is in the public interest to release it.

The disease remains a huge problem in countries from Indonesia to Egypt.

When the H5N1 strain of bird flu has been contracted by humans, more than 60 per cent have died, making it one of the most lethal strains of flu ever detected.

James Cook University microbiologist Dr Graham Burgess says if the virus hit Australia, more than 1 million people would die."

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