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Scientists make new Covid variant with 80% kill rate in mice

ORIGINAL POST
Posted by Ed 2 yrs ago
Boston University has created a new Covid-19 variant which resulted in an 80% kill rate in mice, according to a new research paper.
 

The research hopes to better understand the role played by the virus' spike protein in terms of how harmful a variant is.

To do this, scientists at Boston University's biosafety 4 research lab attached the more immune evading Omicron spike protein to the "backbone" of an original Covid virus from the start of the pandemic.

"We generated chimeric recombinant SARS-CoV-2 encoding the S gene of Omicron in the backbone of an ancestral SARS-CoV-2 isolate and compared this virus with the naturally circulating Omicron variant," the paper published on biorxiv awaiting peer review reads.

"In K18-hACE2 mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80%.

"This indicates that while the vaccine escape of Omicron is defined by mutations in S, major determinants of viral pathogenicity reside outside of S."

When infected with just the original strain of Covid-19 100% of the mice died, while none of the mice infected with the Omicron variant died.

American molecular biologist Richard H. Ebright has slammed the paper.

"The research is a clear example of gain of function research," he told Daily Mail UK.

"It is especially concerning that this new US-government ePPP research - like the previous US-government ePPP research on chimeric SARS-related coronaviruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology that may have caused the pandemic - appears not to have undergone the prior risk-benefit review mandated under US-government policies."

 
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/10/18/scientists-make-new-covid-variant-with-80-kill-rate-in-mice/ 
 

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COMMENTS
Ed 2 yrs ago
Lab in Boston Made What Could Be A Super-Killer SARS-COV-2
 
Extreme Danger: This is Gain-of-Function Research on Steroids
 
I was in shock when a couple of my colleagues directed me to a pre-print article that was posted online on Friday October 14, 2022. Pre-prints are scientific papers that have not yet undergone peer review and they have not been published in a journal. In this case, these nuances are moot. What is far more important is the product that has been described, along with the disclosure of the recipe to make it. 
 
Why The Chimeric SARS-CoV-2 Is More Dangerous Than Omicron
 
In most people, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 typically causes only mild COVID-19, if any disease at all. This is in large part due to it being limited to infecting only the upper airways. In contrast, earlier versions of SARS-CoV-2 could infect the lower airways in some people where it could cause severe pneumonia in high-risk individuals; a demographic that has been well-defined for most of the declared pandemic.
 

Some scientists have been forewarning that if a variant of SARS-CoV-2 were to emerge that had the infectivity and immunoevasive properties of Omicron, but could get deep into the lungs like earlier variants, the results could be deadly. With this in mind, here is what the authors of the pre-print article had to say about their virus…
 

“…unlike naturally occurring Omicron, [the chimeric SARS-CoV-2] efficiently replicates in cell lines and primary-like distal lung cells.”
 

…translation: the chimeric SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to cause infections deep in the lungs, where severe pneumonia would be the expected outcome.
 

We may have been on our way to naturally selecting such a variant of SARS-CoV-2 through the completely inappropriate global use of COVID-19 inoculations that apply a non-lethal selective pressure. Twenty-three American scientists have inadvertently provided the proof-of-principle that emergence of a potentially deadly SARS-CoV-2 is possible. The problem is, this virus is no longer theoretical. It potentially exists now; in laboratories in Boston.
 

It Gets Worse: Providing a Recipe for a Super-Pathogen
 
A good scientific paper should be written in such a way that other scientists in the respective field(s) of expertise could repeat the experiments to determine whether or not the results can be replicated. I am a viral immunologist and I reviewed the materials and methods section. I am confident that my research team could use this information to make the same chimeric virus. My team would never do this. However, I cannot speak to the morality of potential bioterrorists who could just as easily replicate the work should they have access to basic laboratory facilities.
 

In essence, the 23 authors of this paper have provided a recipe for a potentially potent bioterrorism agent. It is in the public domain and can no longer be eliminated from cyberspace.
 
 
 
https://viralimmunologist.substack.com/p/lab-in-boston-made-what-could-be 

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Ed 2 yrs ago
https://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/Utility/GetImage.ashx?ImageID=9d5bb1bd-b7d8-449f-9244-4df5ef69dfc1&refreshStamp=0 
'This is playing with fire - it could spark a lab-generated pandemic': Experts slam Boston lab where scientists have created a new deadly Covid strain with an 80% kill rate
 
  • Researchers added Omicron's spike protein to the original Wuhan Covid strain
  • Omicron's spike is highly mutated which made it the most infectious variant ever
  • Eight in 10 mice infected with the lab-created strain died at Boston University lab
 
Boston University scientists were today condemned for 'playing with fire' after it emerged they had created a lethal new Covid strain in a laboratory.

DailyMail.com revealed the team had made a hybrid virus — combining Omicron and the original Wuhan strain — that killed 80 per cent of mice in a study.

The revelation exposes how dangerous virus manipulation research continues to go on even in the US, despite fears similar practices may have started the pandemic.

 
Professor Shmuel Shapira, a leading scientist in the Israeli Government, said: 'This should be totally forbidden, it's playing with fire.'
 
 
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11323677/Outrage-Boston-University-CREATES-Covid-strain-80-kill-rate.html 

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