"Inside the [CDC Atlanta] lab lies a batch of a virus... Resurrected nearly 90 years after it spread around the globe, leaving an estimated 50 million people dead, it is a replica of the 1918 Spanish flu virus.

The recreation of the virus, which was driven by an urge to unravel why the 1918 pandemic was so devastating, has raised as many fears as it has hopes. While the researchers argue the work will hugely improve protection against natural flu viruses, critics say there is a real danger the virus will escape, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The team led by Dr Jeffery Taubenberger at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Maryland was able to establish just how ferociously effective it was, compared with more common flu strains."

-- Guardian Unlimited article (2005-10-06)