Question: Are there any dangers accosiated with developing virus's?

Louisa Chard answered on 17 Jun 2010:

Good question although I’m not sure if you mean the work itself or that we could create dangerous viruses. If it’ethe second then yes, that’s why this type of research is under strict regulations from the health and safety executive. We use viruses that naturally only cause very mild symptoms (cold) and that will be eliminated by the immune system after a while. We are also trying to make sure that they only replicate and kill cancer cells. Because of this, we actually end up making the virus more safe, but the potential for creating more dangerous viruses is there and so we have to be carfeul and follow strict guidelines and test in well in the lab.
If you want to know if the work I do is dangerous then the answer is no. Again, the health and safety executive require we work under certain conditions that minimises the risk to us and others. Also, the viruses I use aren’t that bad really anyway. For more dangerous viruses, like EBOLA for example, there are only a few places in the world you can work on these (like the CDC in America). These places have the facilities available that mean you can safely work on these viruses.