The government advisory board that oversees biosecurity in the U.S. is asking the scientific journals Nature and Science to censor details of recent studies on bird flu due to concerns about biological terrorism. Researchers created mutations of the A(H5N1) virus, making it transferable between mammals through the air. In 60 percent of human cases, this strain of avian flu is fatal. At present, only 350 people worldwide have died because of the flu, only because it can be contracted via direct contact with infected birds.
What have we learned from the swine flu crisis that wasn't? Joan Nichols, associate director of research at the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch, and D.A. Henderson, public health expert and co-author of "Smallpox- the Death of a Disease: The Inside Story of Eradicating a Worldwide Killer," share their differing opinions on what we did right and what went wrong.