Early last week, the city of Hong Kong confirmed its first case of H7N9, the newest form of avian influenza that first emerged in February this year.
So far, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 137 infections and 45 deaths (a concerning 33% mortality rate) and has described the new strain as “unusually dangerous” and “one of the most lethal” viruses they have faced in recent years.
The good news is that the majority of these cases occurred in the months of March and April and the rate of infection has remained fairly low since then.
The bad news is that the first evidence of human-to-human transmission was documented in August. In other words, the virus has mutated one step closer to a potential pandemic.
Fortunately, we’ve yet to see a highly contagious version of the virus, and Asia has done an excellent job containing it so far. Hong Kong officials were able to isolate the latest incident by tracking down and clearing 17 people who came in contact with the infected patient.
Genetic mutations are primarily random so the chances of increased transmission are low. While anything is possible, the most likely scenario is that a vaccine will be created before H7N9 is able to have a significant impact on the human population.
Nature Aint So Scary…
It’s natural to be worried, but the truth is that fears of worldwide epidemic are highly overblown. Mainstream media likes to jump on the issue because it’s exciting enough to grab your attention, but there’s no need to duct tape your doors and start walking around with a surgical mask just yet.
Now, pandemics are nothing to take lightly — the bubonic plague wiped out as much as 60% of Europe’s population in the 14th century. However, people had no knowledge of contagious disease at the time and this was the primary reason it was able to spread so rapidly.
Today we have a highly educated population (relatively speaking) and organizations following strict procedures to shut down almost any potential medical threat. Human knowledge is a far greater weapon than natural mutations, and we can feel relatively safe from natural pandemics as a result.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean viruses aren’t a greater threat today than they were 600 years ago. In fact, it can be argued that viruses are a greater threat now than ever before…
Human Nature, However…
While human medical knowledge and innovation have long been our greatest weapons against contagious diseases, those weapons could soon be turned against ourselves.
In January 2012, research on H5N1, another deadly form of avian flu, was halted in response to public outrage. A group of researchers were able to successfully create a more contagious version of the virus between mammals, causing obvious reason for concern.
After 5 months of evaluation, WHO released a statement warning that “…any unintended release of the modified H5N1 viruses for laboratories conducting such research would have the potential for serious global consequences.”
The organization went on to say that even the release of the information in these studies alone was a threat to biosafety and biosecurity.
After a year of moratorium and in the face of strict opposition from leading minds in the medical community, these researchers have once again begun to work on increasing the contagiousness of the H5N1 virus.
Now the intentions of these scientists are not malicious — they simply want to know more about the disease. However, the implications are incredibly threatening to the global community regardless.
While it wasn’t stated by WHO directly, it’s clear through their response that these results could potentially be replicated by anyone with foul intentions if they were to gain access to the research materials.
When Einstein released his famous equation E=mc2 in 1905, weapons were nowhere on the radar of the self-described pacifist. Yet it was this exact equation that was instrumental in developing the atomic bomb just a few decades later. What we see happening with viral modification today could end up being a dangerously similar scenario…
Fire With Fire
While advancements in genetic medicine have increased our ability to weaponize viruses, we’ve fortunately been able to use similar methods to develop synthetic vaccines with the potential to fight against advancing strains.
Specifically, these are what we call DNA-based vaccines. Essentially, they contain genetically modified DNA that mimic a virus and produce the appropriate response from the human immune system. DNA vaccines differ from traditional vaccines in several ways and offer a few significant advantages.
- No risk of infection: Traditional vaccines have a risk of infection because they inject a weakened form of the actual virus. Synthetic vaccines do not replicate, and therefore cannot cause an infection.
- Better immune response: By making changes in the specific coding sequence, DNA vaccines can induce a better immune response than weakened or killed viruses can.
- Cost-effective: Rapid and large-scale production offer costs considerably lower than traditional vaccines.
- Wide potential: DNA vaccines aren’t just for viruses — they can stimulate immune responses against cancer as well as infectious diseases.
Though DNA vaccines have been around for some time, it has been difficult getting the DNA to enter human cells. However, one small company has developed a way — a sort of molecular key — to assist the entry of these vaccines.
This company is revolutionizing vaccines not only to the point of disease treatment, but to the point of prevention as well. Imagine no more cancer, no more flu, or even no more death by disease whatsoever.
It might sound like fiction, but clinical results are looking more promising than ever and big pharma is finally beginning to take note. In fact, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies just pledged over $422 million to aid in the development of these vaccines.
The best part? Company shares are trading well under $3.00 with enormous upside potential for early investors. It’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on…
Turning progress to profits,
Jason Stutman
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