satheesh

Avian influenza, also known as ‘fowl plague’, is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide in many domestic birds, including chicken, turkey, ducks etc. THE GREATEST CONCERN TILL DATE IS THE PROBABLE TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE FROM BIRDS TO HUMAN DIRECTLY but recently in an article published from Forbes, there are some anatomic reasons why the virus can't directly jump from the birds to human. It is mostly due to deep localization of the virus in the lungs of birds rather than upper respiratory tract which means it can't be coughed out as aerosols and secondly the virus prefer a special type of receptor called SAalpha2,3Gal which in humans is localized in the deepest part of lung (lucky huh?)...Till now we r lucky as only human flu can bind to SAalpha2,6Gal, another type of receptor on upper respiratory tract. If some day the virus mutates and gains the ability to bind to this 2,6 receptor, that will be real dangerous situation. Recently Avian flu is the hotest issue in asian countries and slowly gaining popularity or i must say becoming notorious in USA too !! Is there ample preparedness to face the disease outbreak in US? How much r we prepared to face it? I even heard that some scientists in US has engineered the live virus completely from viral genes recovered from one of worst flu epidemics in US ! isn't that scary if the virus leaves the lab accidently?? please comment on the ethical issues making such live virus in lab ? Is advancement of science require research?? And the procedure was even published in leading scientific journals like science and nature. What if these procedures are copied by some misanthrope !!!