US worried about publication of details on bird flu super virus

Ron Fouchier of Erasmus University in Rotterdam infected ferrets repeatedly with the deadly bird flu virus H5N1, creating a pathogen capable of spreading rapidly amongst the animals, killing most of them.
The same is likely to happen to people if this super virus ever escaped, Fourier has acknowledged, setting alarm bells ringing in the United States in particular, where there are concerns the virus could fall into terrorist hands.
The news caused nervousness when Fouchier first announced his achievement at a conference in Malta in September. That turned to outright alarm, when the respected US journal Science said it would be publishing details of his experiments in a forthcoming issue.
The US administration reacted sharply, expressing fear the article could provide a blueprint for terrorists aiming to create a biological weapon capable of killing millions of people. The US National Biosecurity Committee called on the magazine's publishers to hold back on publication.//DPA