Scientists Reveal Experiments With Virus 100% Fatal to Mice

Written by Zachary Stieber on January 17, 2024. Posted in Current News

Scientists in China, experimenting with a coronavirus closely related to the virus that causes COVID-19, found that it had a 100 percent kill rate in a small mouse study, according to the researchers’ announcement on Jan. 4.

Of the four mice infected with the virus, all began to lose weight five days post-infection. Shortly thereafter, they exhibited symptoms including sluggishness and white eyes.

The four mice died within eight days of inoculation. Researchers described the results as “surprising.”

Researchers then infected eight additional mice, euthanized them, and selected organs from four to analyze. High levels of viral RNA were found in various organs, including the brain, lungs, and eyes. While the viral load in the lungs decreased by the sixth day, it increased in the brain.

“This finding suggested that severe brain infection during the later stages of infection may be the key cause of death in these mice,” the scientists said.

The experiments were on a mutant strain of the pangolin virus, known as GX_P2V(short_3UTR).

“The research is still very dangerous, though,” Mr. Kinney told The Epoch Times via email. “I am especially concerned that the paper does not say what biosafety level the work was performed at. Coronavirus research in China is often done at a biosafety level (BSL-2) that is inadequate for working with potential pandemic pathogens that might be transmitted by air.

“Indeed, coronavirus research done at BSL-2 may have caused the COVID-19 pandemic. And by showing that the coronavirus has a surprisingly high pathogenicity, the work underscores the need for extreme caution when working with novel coronaviruses.”

Lihua Song, a scientist in Beijing who co-authored the new paper, declined to detail how scientists ensured the experiments they performed were safe. “All the work is properly and accurately done,” Mr. Song told The Epoch Times via email.

Justin Goodman, senior vice president of the White Coat Waste Project, a U.S. nonprofit, said the new study added to the body of evidence showing China-based scientists have been conducting “dangerous and deadly tests on mice.”

“This is why shipping U.S. tax dollars to foreign adversaries’ unaccountable animal labs is a recipe for disaster and we’re working with lawmakers to stop it,” Mr. Goodman told The Epoch Times via email.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has for years funded lab work in China and other foreign countries, including testing done in Wuhan.

That makes it unclear whether the pangolin coronavirus “is generally more dangerous than SARS-CoV-2, or if their results are due to the specific mice they used,” said Mr. Kinney. “And it’s not at all clear from their results what might happen were a human to become infected with this coronavirus.”

Mr. Kinney helped co-found a group called Biosafety Now that advocates for independent oversight of risky experiments.

Dr. Tong and his colleagues compared the pathological changes in the mice with those in a control group and found no evidence of severe inflammation. They noted that these results were consistent with reports from Shi regarding the pangolin coronavirus, as well as with their previous experiments conducted on golden hamsters and another type of mouse.

The researchers called for more investigation of the high pathogenicity of the coronavirus and said that their study “offers a distinct alternative model for understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2-related coronaviruses.”

Source: Epoch Times

Please Donate Below To Support Our Ongoing Work To Defend The Scientific Method

PRINCIPIA SCIENTIFIC INTERNATIONAL, legally registered in the UK as a company incorporated for charitable purposes. Head Office: 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. 

Trackback from your site.