The Risks of Preparedness: Mutant Bird Flu

This essay analyzes the evolving controversy over the recent experimental mutation of H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) to make it more easily transmissible among mammals. While the controversy has been cast as a debate between bioscience and biosecurity, or between openness and secrecy, it is better...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublic culture Vol. 24; no. 3; p. 457
Main Author Lakoff, Andrew
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Duke University Press, NC & IL 01.10.2012
Subjects
Alliances
Avian flu
Disease transmission
Emergency preparedness
Mutation
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Summary:This essay analyzes the evolving controversy over the recent experimental mutation of H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) to make it more easily transmissible among mammals. While the controversy has been cast as a debate between bioscience and biosecurity, or between openness and secrecy, it is better understood in terms of the fracture of a fragile alliance among virologists, public health experts, and biosecurity officials around the problem of pandemic preparedness. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0899-2363
1527-8018
DOI:10.1215/08992363-1630636