애드리언 깁스(Adrian Gibbs)
캔버라에 소재한 호주국립대학교(Australian National University)에서 39년간 바이러스를 연구하다가 은퇴한 애드리언 깁스(Adrian Gibbs, 75세) 교수는 2009 돼지독감 바이러스의 유전자를 분석하여 추적해본 결과, 유정란을 이용하여 백신을 만드는 제약회사의 실험실에서 바이러스 유출 사고가 발생했다는 결론에 도달했다고 주장했다. 그는 로슈의 타미플루를 개발하는데 공동연구자로 일했으며, 250편이 넘는 바이러스 연구 논문을 발표한 원로 과학자로 유명하다. 따라서 그의 이러한 주장은 아마추어의 단순한 음모론으로 무시할 수 없었다. 급기야 후쿠다 게이지 WHO 사무차장이 직접 나서서 “돼지독감 바이러스는 실험실 사고와 무관하다.”는 해명 기자회견까지 하도록 만들었다.
인플루엔자 대유행이 실험실 유출 사고에 의한 인간적 실수(Human error)라는 주장은 이전에도 여러 차례 제기된 바 있다. 영국의 존 옥스포드(John Oxford)교수도 라디오 인터뷰에서 1957년의 H1N1 인플루엔자 대유행도 실험실에서 바이러스가 유출되어 시작되었을지 모른다고 주장했다. 또한 몇몇 과학자들은 1977년 러시아 독감도 실험실 유출 사고에 의해서 시작되었다고 주장하기도 했다.
참고 : Swine Flu May Be Human Error, Scientist Says; WHO Probes Claim (May 12 2009, Bloomberg)
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Adrian Gibbs, 75, who collaborated on research that led to the development of Roche Holding AG’s Tamiflu drug, said in an interview today 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. Gibbs said that he came to his conclusion as part of an effort to trace the virus’s origins by analyzing its genetic blueprint.
The World Health Organization 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 yesterday. Gibbs, who has studied germ evolution for four decades, is one of the first scientists to analyze 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.
A virus that resulted from lab experimentation or vaccine production may indicate a greater need for security, Fukuda said. By pinpointing the source of the virus, scientists also may better understand the microbe’s potential for spreading and causing illness, Gibbs said.
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Gibbs wrote or co-authored more than 250 scientific publications on viruses during his 39-year career at the Australian National University in Canberra, according to biographical information on the university’s Web site.
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Research Hospital in Memphis, who found the new strain is the product of two distinct lineages of influenza that have circulated among swine in North America and Europe for more than a decade.
In addition, his research found the rate of genetic mutation in the new virus outpaced that of the most closely related viruses found in pigs, suggesting it evolved outside of swine, Gibbs said.
Some scientists have speculated that the 1977 Russian flu, the most recent global outbreak, began when a virus escaped from a laboratory.
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Commentary by Washington’s Blog
Adrian Gibbs isn’t a wild-eyed youth. He was one of the researchers whose worked was instrumental in the creation of the flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, and he has written or co-authored more than 250 scientific publications on viruses during his 39-year career at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The fact that Gibbs is saying that the swine flu may have escaped from a lab is causing the CDC and other health organizations to investigate his claim. They aren’t buying it at this point, but they are looking into it.
“We reckon now, in retrospect, it was probably released accidentally from a laboratory, probably in northern China or just across the border in Russia, because everyone was experimenting with those viruses at the time in the lab.” It was nothing malicious, Oxford believes, just some flu vaccine research that broke out of containment.Similarly, Bloomberg notes:
Some scientists have speculated that the 1977 Russian flu, the most recent global outbreak, began when a virus escaped from a laboratory.Source: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2009/05/health-organizations-checking-top-virus.html
