Bird flu engineered to infect humans could be lab-produced ‘in months,’ former CDC Director says

6 months ago
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Bioengineered bird flu souped up via gain-of-function lab work could be developed in a shockingly short period of time, former CDC Director Robert Redfield told News Nation recently:
"I think it puts our world at great risk. We have the risk of natural spillover, but there is a species barrier. I’m obviously most worried about bird flu. Right now, it takes five amino acid change for it to be effectively infecting humans. That’s a pretty heavy species barrier but this virus is already now in 26 mammal species, as you saw most recently in cattle.
But in the laboratory, I could make it highly infectious for humans in months. Because it’s been published the five amino acids that I need to change, and so I don’t think that research should be done. That’s the real threat, that’s the real biosecurity threat that these university labs are doing these bio-experiments that are INTENTIONALLY modifying viruses — and bird flu I think is going to be the cause of the great pandemic — where they are teaching these viruses how to be more infectious for humans."

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