REPORTS of avian flu being transmitted from human to human in south-east Asia (2 October, p 10) have increased concerns about the H5N1 strain. “There are certain warnings that really should be acted on,” as the leader article in that issue of New Scientist noted.
Earlier in the year, Debora MacKenzie warned that Asian countries vaccinating their chicken population against bird flu would be carrying out an uncontrolled experiment in accelerated viral evolution that could lead to a human pandemic (27 March, p 6). Ben Bradshaw, the minister for nature conservation and fisheries, is also concerned. The Department of…
