This is HUGE. Perhaps the biggest discovery in forensic virology ever. Please read the article - it's worth your valuable time.
Bush administration officials have been talking about pandemic flu preparedness for years, and they say they will soon release a pandemic flu plan, in the works for more than a year.
The scary thing about that statement, is that it sounds just like the preparation plans for Hurricane Katrina. Too little, too late. And for something that we absolutely know with certainty will most likely happen in our lifetime. A major pandemic.
The current and probable risk of another bird flu pandemic is so high right now, that instead of the country having Terror Alert stages, there really should be "Health Alert" stages. And going in to this winter - it should be orange.
I am somewhat comforted by the fact that Tony Fauci at NIH and Julie Gerberding at CDC are spearheading the alarm on this. I know Tony Fauci personally, and Julie's reputation is rock solid. Unlike Mike Brown of FEMA, they are the real deal and have the credentials to back them up.
My great grandparents died in the 1918 epidemic, leaving my grandmother's brothers and sisters to raise each other and put every single one of them through college. If reconstructing this virus can help prevent another pandemic, then it's worth the risks associated with it.
