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China Has Withheld Samples of a Dangerous Flu Virus (nytimes.com)
For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus from the United States -- specimens needed to develop vaccines and treatments, according to federal health officials, The New York Times reports. From the story: Despite persistent requests from government officials and research institutions, China has not provided samples of the dangerous virus, a type of bird flu called H7N9 [Editor's note: the link maybe paywalled; alternative source]. In the past, such exchanges have been mostly routine under rules established by the World Health Organization. Now, as the United States and China spar over trade, some scientists worry that the vital exchange of medical supplies and information could slow, hampering preparedness for the next biological threat. The scenario is "unlike shortages in aluminum and soybeans," said Dr. Michael Callahan, an infectious disease specialist at Harvard Medical School. "Jeopardizing U.S. access to foreign pathogens and therapies to counter them undermines our nation's ability to protect against infections which can spread globally within days." Experts concur that the world's next global pandemic will likely come from a repeat offender: the flu. The H7N9 virus is one candidate.
The line "For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus from the United States" says the virus comes from the United States. What they mean is "For over a year, the Chinese government has withheld from the United States lab samples of a rapidly evolving influenza virus."
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
If this turns out to be the next break out super-flu like the 1918 variety, every egg laying chicken in the world will be conscripted by every company in the world that can make flu vaccines so we maybe keep the death toll in the mere 100s of millions.
In the meanwhile, it's vital that the few research labs capable of mutating raw flu strains into ones that express the vital proteins while growing well in egg membranes get going. Especially since this is particularly difficult with avian flu strains, they're much more vicious towards chicken eggs.
Citation needed, seeing as how per the report the withholding started before the trade war. If they've been doing it for 5 years as others have claimed, you ought to be blaming Obama for starting it.
The mortality rate is 39%. Luckily, human-to-human transmission so far is rare, it's usually poultry-to-human, but this could change as the virus evolves.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
It's also a very slow process, and each egg produces at most 3 doses. I was appalled with 2 'p's when the FDA tried to deny Protein Sciences a licence with the excuse the old methods were good enough. They use modern biotech, splicing the relevant antigen coding DNA into ... whatever, insect? cells that grow well in bioreactors to quickly mass produce the antigens, as I recall something like 100,000 doses in each run. Something like what they're doing would be the only real hope if we were facing a true death plague.