Scientists to make mutant forms of new bird flu #H7N9 to assess risk

Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent 2 hours ago 
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists are to create mutant forms of the H7N9 bird flu virus that has emerged in China so they can gauge the risk of it becoming a lethal human pandemic.
The genetic modification work will to result in highly transmissible and deadly forms of H7N9 being made in several high security laboratories around the world, but it is vital to prepare for the threat, the scientists say.
The new bird flu virus, which was unknown in humans until February, has already infected at least 133 people in China and Taiwan, killing 43 of them, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) data.
Announcing plans to start the controversial experiments, leading virologists Ron Fouchier and Yoshihiro Kawaoka said H7N9's pandemic risk would rise "exponentially" if it gained the ability to spread easily among people.
And the only way to find out how likely that is, and how many genetic changes would need to take place before it could happen, is to engineer those mutations in laboratory conditions and test the virus's potential using animal models, they said.

Continued:  http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-mutant-forms-bird-flu-assess-risk-170234059.html