Three years ago, researchers at the Australian National University were experimenting with using viruses to sterilize mice when they accidentally created a deadly strain of mousepox that killed 60% of infected mice. The results gave health researchers concern that terrorists might find a way to genetically alter smallpox so that it would have a similar deadly result on people. Dr. Mark Buller of the University of St Louis has purposefully developed an even deadlier strain of mousepox. He hopes to find a cure that will pave the way for fighting even the worst of viruses. However, other scientists argue that such experiments are unnecessary and potentially dangerous.
Smallpox was eliminated as a natural disease during the 1970's, but there have been fears that terrorists might reintroduce the deadly virus as a biological weapon. If terrorists were able to develop a strain that affected even those vaccinated against smallpox, they could destroy millions of lives.
To deal with this potential problem in advance, Buller's experiments created a form of mousepox so lethal that it killed 100% of infected mice, even those that had been vaccinated and given antiviral drugs. His team then started looking for a remedy to the virulent virus. They found that by combining the drug cidofovir with a monoclonal antibody they were able to create "a cocktail that works." Mousepox is a disease that is related to other pox viruses, like smallpox, cowpox, monkeypox and rabbitpox. Buller went on to develop a more deadly form of cowpox and proposed to work with Army scientists at Fort Detrick to see if the modified cowpox virus could be stopped through similar use of the same drugs. If the cowpox strain responded as well as the mousepox strain, then the remedy might also work for smallpox.
While mousepox is not fatal to humans, cowpox can infect humans and the development of highly lethal viruses in the laboratory, even for good purposes, has invoked some apprehension. "I have great concern about doing this in a pox virus that can cross species," said Ian Ramshaw of the Australian National University in Canberra. Ramshaw's team, which initially developed the deadly mousepox, has also conducted experiments with rabbitpox and says the cowpox experiments are unnecessary.
Ramshaw's experiments have taught his team a great deal about these pox viruses, and they have discovered that the modified mousepox is deadly, but not contagious. If a terrorist group were to make use of the technology to develop a deadly form of smallpox, they could potentially infect a target audience without the virus' "coming back to bite them." However, there are no guarantees that all strains will not be contagious.
Others are concerned that these researchers as simply doing the hard work for terrorists. "There's no reason the United States should be funding basic research for terror," said Richard H. Ebright, a Rutgers University biochemist. Other experts are concerned that experiments like this might fuel a biological arms race if other nations perceive that the US is using this research to develop bioweapons. Still, if terrorists do create vicious superviruses, scientists like Buller want to be prepared to battle these designer diseases and save innocent lives.
Other researchers in recent years have developed the 1918 influenza virus and an infectious polio virus in the laboratory. Biosecurity experts argue that a system needs to be developd to regulate all this biological research and to provide the security measures and appropriate protocol to deal with vulnerable areas.
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• US Develops Lethal New Viruses - New Scientist