Flu expert says swine flu may be a laboratory escape
Australian researcher Adrian Gibbs claims that swine flu was likely created from the result of human error. The World Health Organization, which said the flu could affect a third of the world's population, is investigating the claim.
Gibbs said he plans to publish his research saying that the flu may have originated in eggs which were used by scientists to grow viruses used for research to make vaccines. Gibbs told Bloomberg Television, "One of the simplest explanations is that it's a laboratory escape...But there are lots of others." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta claims there is no evidence to Gibb's research.
The Australian National University says of Gibbs: "His 39-year career at ANU (John Curtin School of Medical Research 1966-1970; Research School of Biological Sciences 1971-1999; School of Botany and Zoology 2000-2005) was busy and resulted in au thorship/co- au thorship of over 250 publications; mostly research papers but also books and networked publications, including an introductory book on plant virology that was translated into both Russian and Mandarin Chinese.
Throughout his career he has worked to understand the origins and evolution of viruses. This has involved understanding their identification, ecology and host interactions. He pioneered the storage and manipulation of virus data, first as co-founder of the Descriptions of Plant Viruses, then, using computers, founded the Virus Identification and Data Exchange ( VIDE ) database, which became the first component of the database of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTVdB)."
Related:
Biographical information on Adrian Gibbs in PDF
Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim)
