Laboratories around the world are racing to destroy a deadly strain of Influenza that was sent to them as part of a routine test kit.
The 1918 flu virus spread across the world in three months and killed at least 40 million people. If it escaped from a lab today, the death toll could be far higher. Yet despite the danger, researchers in the US are working with reconstructed versions of the virus at less than the maximum level of containment.
After the worldwide alarm triggered by 2003's SARS outbreak, it might seem reckless to set about creating a potentially far more devastating virus in the lab. But that is what is being attempted by some researchers, who argue that the dangers of doing nothing are even greater.
A deadly, contagious strain of flu will emerge, possibly soon, flu experts say, and the world is not ready to deal with it.
The Sunshine Project warns that U.S. military research into the deadly 'Spanish Flu' influenza virus that killed 20-40 million people in 1918