If you've ever seen it, the popular Stephen King mini-series The Stand
fictionalizes a post-apocalyptic world in which a man-made plague
escapes a government lab and ravages the world, destroying most of the
world's population. Well, a real-life plague of this devastating
magnitude is now a very real possibility thanks to the machinations of a
deranged U.S. scientist out of Wisconsin, who has successfully
manufactured a deadly flu strain that completely bypasses the human
immune system.
His name is Yoshihiro Kawaoka, and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) actually pays him to deconstruct viruses in
order to reassemble them into highly lethal strains capable of killing
off large numbers of humans. The UK's Independent reports that
Dr. Kawaoka has now successfully manipulated the 2009 H1N1 flu strain to
evade the human immune system, rendering individuals completely
vulnerable to disease and death.
"Kawaoka... has genetically
manipulated the 2009 strain of pandemic flu in order for it to 'escape'
the control of the immune system's neutralising antibodies, effectively
making the human population defenceless against its reemergence," wrote
Steve Connor for The Independent.
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