The British science journal Nature has published online a Japanese avian influenza report that had been suspended because of U.S. fears it could used to wage bioterrorism.
The report by the Japanese team, led by professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo, suggests that the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu viruses that have been infecting birds in Asia since the latter 1990s have the potential to spread between mammals, including humans.
Last December, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity urged the journal Nature to delete parts of the report due to the bioterrorism concern. It made a similar request to the U.S. journal Science over another avian flu study by a Dutch team.