Something that should be of some concern is that Samita Andreansky, a virologist at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine in Florida (should we be surprised?), stated in a National Geographic article from October 2010 that rabies can drive people to be "violently mad", and that its incubation period is 10 days to a year; also that, "If a rabies virus can mutate fast enough, it could cause infection within an hour or a few hours. That's entirely plausible." The main issue is that rabies currently is only contagious through bites. If it were to be hybridized with influenza, it could become airborne, and therefore much more contagious. [link to news.nationalgeographic.com]

It is also speculated upon in the article that this could cause the much-feared "zombie apocalypse" through a "Rage" type of virus. In my opinion, this is actually the most likely way for it to come about.

In light of this, look at the research going on in JCVI and other places. In 2002, the polio virus was synthesized (although not at JCVI) for research purposes. It was used to kill mice in a lab, to see if it worked like it did in nature. Makes you wonder what else they're experimenting with. All lifeforms mutate on this planet; it has to do with the background radiation natural to our environment. Yet they are synthesizing both viruses and bacteria. If (when?) they mutate, what will they become?

To clarify what I'm getting at, the National Geographic article stressed how difficult it would be to hybridize the rabies virus and the influenza virus. When we're talking about a company that can outright synthesize any virus they decide to make, would it be difficult for them? More important, would they do it just to see if it could be done?