Top Medical Journals Wrongly Label Images of Human Cell Structures as ‘Coronavirus’
Top medical journals published images of ordinary human cellular structures labeled as “coronavirus,” according to a 2021 review authored by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists and collaborators titled “Difficulties in Differentiating Coronaviruses from Subcellular Structures in Human Tissues by Electron Microscopy.”
The researchers examined 27 reports that used electron microscopy to identify coronavirus directly in human tissue and found that 23 contained cellular structures misidentified as virus.
“In each case of erroneously identified coronavirus particles,” they wrote, “the structures mistaken for virus are common cellular organelles.”
More than five years later, several of the papers remain published without corrections withdrawing the disputed electron-microscope identifications, including studies claiming direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of the kidney, liver, heart, intestine, and other organs.
The development raises questions about how much of the historical record describing the purported virus’s physical presence and morphology rests on images that were never uniquely identifying.
Human Cell Structures Published as ‘Coronavirus’
The CDC-associated researchers published their review in Emerging Infectious Diseases in April 2021.
They had searched reports published between March and November 2020 that used electron microscopy to identify coronavirus directly in patient specimens.
They found 27 reports with electron-microscopy findings.
“The other 23 articles revealed a pattern of subcellular structures misidentified as virus,” they wrote.
Those structures included clathrin- and coatomer-coated vesicles, multivesicular bodies, rough endoplasmic reticulum, and other nonviral structures.
Some had been used to support much larger claims about COVID-19.
A 2020 Journal of the American Society of Nephrology paper, for example, was titled “Ultrastructural Evidence for Direct Renal Infection with SARS-CoV-2.”
The University of Michigan researchers said electron microscopy revealed particles “morphologically identical to SARS-CoV-2” and concluded that they provided evidence of “productive direct infection of the kidney.”
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The researchers warned that once incorrectly identified images entered the literature, they could become references used to validate later purported virus images.
“Articles with misidentified viral particles are used by others to verify the presence of viral particles in their own research,” they wrote.
That could result in researchers “wrongfully documenting the presence of the virus in damaged tissues.”
The fuller context of those quotes is revealing.
The CDC researchers write in their conclusion:
“The issue of virus misidentification within tissue samples is not unique to coronaviruses or limited to those subcellular structures we addressed in this report; nuclear pores may be mistaken for herpesvirus, perichromatin granules for smaller DNA viruses such as parvoviruses or polyomaviruses, and ribosomes for picornaviruses. Neurosecretory granules and glycocalyceal bodies can also be misidentified as viruses.”
“In each case of erroneously identified coronavirus particles, the structures mistaken for virus are common cellular organelles. These misinterpretations are easy to make without extensive training and are made easier by the publication of incorrectly identified viral structures. Articles with misidentified viral particles are used by others to verify the presence of viral particles in their own research, potentially wrongfully documenting the presence of the virus in damaged tissues. However, rather than actual virus infection of a failing organ, the damage could be due to lack of support of the infected organ due to the body’s response to toxins, such as cytokines and circulating debris, or to clotting. These continued misinterpretations could have meaningful impacts on future publications about coronavirus detection and research.”
The warning wasn’t hypothetical.
By the time the CDC review was published, disputed images had already appeared in papers claiming direct infection of multiple human organs.
And years later, several of those papers remain part of the scientific record without corrections withdrawing the electron-microscope evidence the CDC-associated researchers challenged.
That raises a larger question about the historical record of SARS-CoV-2 itself:
How much of the early scientific literature describing where the purported virus was physically present in the human body (and what researchers said it looked like) rests on images that were never uniquely identifying?
Bottom Line
CDC scientists and collaborators found that human cellular structures had been published as “coronavirus” across 23 reports, including papers claiming direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of major human organs.
The structures included ordinary cellular components whose size, shape, and protein fringes could satisfy characteristics researchers attributed to coronavirus, including structures the CDC-associated researchers said could “meet the morphological criteria for a coronavirus.”
The researchers warned that published misidentifications could be used by other scientists to validate their own images, “potentially wrongfully documenting the presence of the virus in damaged tissues.”
More than five years later, several of the papers containing those disputed images remain in the scientific record without corrections withdrawing the electron-microscope identifications.
That leaves an unresolved problem at the foundation of the historical SARS-CoV-2 record: human cellular structures identified by CDC-associated electron microscopists remain published as evidence of where the purported virus was physically present in the human body, while the CDC researchers themselves warned that such misidentifications could propagate through subsequent research.
source jonfleetwood.substack.com