China ‘cloned’ COVID-like virus to test on mice, acknowledges ‘spillover’ risk to humans – Alabama’s News Leader

January 22, 2024

China 'cloned' COVID-like virus to test on mice, acknowledges 'spillover' risk to humans

by JACKSON WALKER | The National Desk

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Yang Hongke checks on test samples at a testing lab of KingMed Diagnostics Group Co., Ltd. in Shijiazhuang in northern China's Hebei Province on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. (Mu Yu/Xinhua via AP) /{ }Closeup of Coronavirus COVID-19 computer generated image. (Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (TND)

Chinese researchers claim to have cloned a COVID-like virus mutation that showed a 100% mortality rate in mice.

In a report by researchers under a collaborative project between China and Mongolia, scientists explained the virus is a strain of coronavirus found in pangolins. They then cloned the virus and tested it on mice.

Each mouse tested on displayed symptoms of piloerection, hunched posture, and sluggish movements along with their eyes turning white and weight loss. They each died within eight days with late brain infection being the supposed cause.

Researchers continued, noting the infection could spillover to humans.

Infectious disease expert and University College London Professor Francois Balloux said via X that the study appears totally pointless.

I had a look at the preprint. It's a terrible study, scientifically totally pointless, Balloux wrote. I can see nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanised mice with a random virus. Conversely, I could see how such stuff might go wrong ...

Biologist Alex Washburne also noted the studys format as a letter to the editor raises further questions.

We also can't verify anything about the pre-print. The structure Dear Editor, ... raises questions about the provenance of the document (was it really written by the listed authors?) and the intentions of its release, Washburne said.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency offered hush money to analysts to cover up their findings that COVID-19 likely originated in a Wuhan, China laboratory, a whistleblower alleged in September. In February 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Energy concluded that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab.

Other reports show that the Biden administration pressured Meta to suppress posts about the virus, including ones that theorized a lab leak theory.

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