Adrian Gibbs, 75, who collaborated on research that led to the
development of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu drug, said in an
interview that he intends to publish a report suggesting the new
strain may have accidentally evolved in eggs scientists use to grow
viruses and drugmakers use to make vaccines, reported Bloomberg
news on Wednesday.
Mr Gibbs said he came to his conclusion as part of an effort to
trace the virus's origins by analysing its genetic blueprint.
The WHO received the study last weekend and is reviewing it,
Keiji Fukuda, the agency's assistant director-general of health
security and environment, said in an interview on Monday.
Mr Gibbs, who has studied germ evolution for four decades, is
one of the first scientists to analyse the genetic makeup of the
virus that was identified three weeks ago in Mexico and threatens
to touch off the first flu pandemic since 1968, said
Bloombergt.
A virus that resulted from lab experimentation or vaccine
production may indicate a greater need for security, Mr Fukuda
said. By pinpointing the source of the virus, scientists also may
better understand the microbe's potential for spreading and causing
illness, Mr Gibbs said.
Mr Gibbs and two colleagues analysed the publicly available
sequences of hundreds of amino acids coded by each of the flu
virus's eight genes. He said he aims to submit his three-page paper
today for publication in a medical journal.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has
received the report and has decided there is no evidence to support
Mr Gibbs's conclusion, said Nancy Cox, director of the agency's
influenza division. She said since researchers don't have samples
of swine flu viruses from South America and Africa, where the new
strain may have evolved, those regions can't be ruled out as
natural sources for the new flu.
The WHO's collaborative influenza research centres, which
includes the CDC, and sites in Memphis, Melbourne, London and
Tokyo, were asked by the international health agency to review the
study over the weekend, Mr Fukuda said.
The request was extended to scientists at the Food and
Agriculture Organization in Rome, the World Organization for Animal
Health in Paris, as well as the WHO's influenza network, he
said.
--ST