Happy Friday!
First of all, I need to give a giant thank you to everyone who responded to last week’s survey! The survey is still open and will be for a bit longer, so if you have a moment to spare and feedback to share, I’m all ears.
Here’s the link.
Now, on with the show. This week, WisContext associate editor Will Cushman took a deep dive into flu research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This specific research had been halted for over four years, but was recently given a green light to resume. This news made headlines in Science, The New York Times and The Washington Post since the research has been the subject of intense debate among the scientific community for nearly a decade.
This is a tricky story about science and ethics (and even a little drama). I talked with Will this week to break down the issues at hand and explain his reporting process for a story like this.
Hayley: Can you briefly explain what this research is about?
Will: Essentially, the research looks at how the H5N1 influenza B subtype of bird flu could become transmissible (i.e., contagious) between mammals. This subtype has been a problem for poultry farmers around the world, as it’s deadly and highly contagious between birds. Millions of chickens and turkeys have been killed either by this type of influenza virus or by proactive culling in an effort to stop its spread. Occasionally, these bird flus can also infect humans, usually people who are in close contact with poultry (i.e., farm workers).
Unlike the typical seasonal influenzas, this subtype kills more than half of the people who come down with it. Importantly, though, the wild virus has so far lacked the ability to be contagious between humans. But because flu viruses are uniquely capable of evolving very quickly, public health officials worry that it could develop that capability.
In 2011, Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, announced that his lab had altered the subtype to become contagious through the air between ferrets, which are a common stand-in for humans in labs. Kawaoka showed that it takes just four genetic mutations to make the subtype contagious between ferrets. Now, he’s continuing this work to better understand the genetic mechanisms, which he hopes could lead to better monitoring, vaccines and treatments.
Why has this research been controversial?
The research has been controversial within the infectious disease research community ever since it was first announced in 2011, and you can probably guess why: Kawaoka’s work has made a deadly virus potentially more dangerous to humans by altering it to be contagious in mammals. Critics say that a lab accident could risk a public health crisis by releasing a deadly and contagious virus into a population where there is no immunity to it. The U.S. government does have an emergency vaccine stockpile for the virus.
How is the risk of the research assessed? Who does this?
There is generally a lot of government oversight of research on potentially dangerous pathogens like the viruses Kawaoka studies. In this case, that oversight comes from UW-Madison, which is the institution responsible for ensuring safety, as well as from the federal government, which funds the research.
In fact, after a series of high-profile lab accidents in 2014, the feds placed a temporary moratorium on research like Kawaoka’s to assess the risks, benefits and safety procedures. The moratorium included several public meetings and debates over the research and produced a 1,000-page risk-benefit analysis. Ultimately, the feds decided the research was important for public health and could be done safely, and lifted the moratorium at the end of 2017.
Critics of the process, however, say that it lacked transparency. For instance, the federal reviewers of Kawaoka’s research remain anonymous.
Was there anything unexpected you learned while reporting this story?
I was surprised to learn about the really deep reservations that some in the infectious disease research community have about Kawaoka’s H5N1 work. I spoke with a prominent critic, Dr. Marc Lipsitch, who directs Harvard’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. He is very skeptical that this research is necessary for public health, and he pointed to accidents at some of the top labs in the world that expose the risk of human error even when there are very stringent safety measures in place, as there are at Kawaoka’s Madison lab.
What was the most difficult part of reporting this piece?
This story is a little challenging on multiple fronts. First, it deals with a rather complex scientific topic: influenza virus genetics and transmissibility. But I actually found that to be more straightforward than the debate over the research and how it was approved. There are prominent, credible scientists who hold deeply opposing views about the risks and benefits related to Dr. Kawaoka’s research. This reporting also involved wading through the multilayered bureaucracy of the federal government, which is never a walk in the park.
How did you ensure you could write the piece accurately while still making sure people without a Ph.D. (like me) could understand the research?
This was the other major challenge of this piece. I also do not have a Ph.D. — and I’m in no way an expert on influenza viruses — which is actually, counterintuitively, somewhat helpful when reporting a story like this. That’s because I’m forced to approach the story in the mode of a layperson. I’m not steeped in the scientific jargon. I’m forced to translate — as accurately as possible — what I learn during the reporting process, and to double and triple check my understanding of the science before sharing that reporting with our audience.
You can read Will’s full story here. He’ll also be making an appearance on Wisconsin Public Television’s Here & Now to talk about the story, airing at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. tonight, so be sure to tune in!
Cheers,
Hayley Sperling
Engagement editor, WisContext
P.S.:
Here’s the survey link again.
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As always, if you have questions about this email or an idea you’d like to see put into action, I want to hear from you. Send me a message at hayley.sperling@wiscontext.org, or find me @hksperl on Twitter.
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