When the US Department of Agriculture announced late Sunday that it had publicly posted new data from its investigation into a bird flu outbreak in cattle, scientists eagerly searched a well-known platform used globally to share the genetic sequences of viruses.The sequences weren’t there. As of Tuesday morning, they still aren’t.Researchers looking to track the evolution and spread of H5N1 say the information that was posted — raw data on a US server — isn’t very useful and is anything but transparent. They also say the government’s release of information in the outbreak, which was confirmed in cattle almost a month ago, has been painfully slow.After Sunday’s announcement by the USDA, Dr. Rick Bright, an immunologist and vaccine researcher who led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority from 2016 to 2020, said he immediately called his contacts at the database, called the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, or GISAID, to make sure he wasn’t missing something.“I said ‘Look, just tell me: Do you have data?’ and they said ‘No,’” Bright said.After checking even parts of the database where people can post rough drafts of sequences prior to full public release, Dr. Lucas Freitas, a Brazilian data scientist who is the GISAID curation lead, confirmed there are no new sequences posted by the USDA since its announcement.“We wouldn’t miss it,” said Peter Bogner, founder and president of GISAID. “H5 is the reason GISAID came about to begin with. It raises antennas.”The highly pathogenic avian influenza strain H5N1 has decimated bird populations around the world, and in recent years, has moved into a growing variety of mammals, raising concern that it’s a step closer to becoming a virus that can spread efficiently in people.When the USDA confirmed that H5N1 had been det …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnWhen the US Department of Agriculture announced late Sunday that it had publicly posted new data from its investigation into a bird flu outbreak in cattle, scientists eagerly searched a well-known platform used globally to share the genetic sequences of viruses.The sequences weren’t there. As of Tuesday morning, they still aren’t.Researchers looking to track the evolution and spread of H5N1 say the information that was posted — raw data on a US server — isn’t very useful and is anything but transparent. They also say the government’s release of information in the outbreak, which was confirmed in cattle almost a month ago, has been painfully slow.After Sunday’s announcement by the USDA, Dr. Rick Bright, an immunologist and vaccine researcher who led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority from 2016 to 2020, said he immediately called his contacts at the database, called the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, or GISAID, to make sure he wasn’t missing something.“I said ‘Look, just tell me: Do you have data?’ and they said ‘No,’” Bright said.After checking even parts of the database where people can post rough drafts of sequences prior to full public release, Dr. Lucas Freitas, a Brazilian data scientist who is the GISAID curation lead, confirmed there are no new sequences posted by the USDA since its announcement.“We wouldn’t miss it,” said Peter Bogner, founder and president of GISAID. “H5 is the reason GISAID came about to begin with. It raises antennas.”The highly pathogenic avian influenza strain H5N1 has decimated bird populations around the world, and in recent years, has moved into a growing variety of mammals, raising concern that it’s a step closer to becoming a virus that can spread efficiently in people.When the USDA confirmed that H5N1 had been det …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
