Anamorphic Subjects
The illegal bushmeat trade not only threatens the survival of endangered species in Africa, but could also lead to outbreaks of deadly human diseases in North America and Europe.
A pilot study of bushmeat seized at US airports has found ape and monkey parts infected with retroviruses and herpesviruses. None of these viruses were known killers, but this small study has just scratched the surface of a trade that is known to be large.
“Seventy-five per cent of emerging diseases move to humans from wildlife, either directly or through our livestock,” says Kristine Smith, a wildlife veterinarian with the EcoHealth Alliance in New York City who led the study. The bushmeat trade could provide a hidden conduit for disease transmission, the researchers say.
A deadly strain of bird flu with the potential to infect and kill millions of people has been created in a laboratory by European scientists – who now want to publish full details of how they did it.
The discovery has prompted fears within the US Government that the knowledge will fall into the hands of terrorists wanting to use it as a bio-weapon of mass destruction. Some scientists are questioning whether the research should ever have been undertaken in a university laboratory, instead of at a military facility. The US Government is now taking advice on whether the information is too dangerous to be published.
