It has been approximately four years since the coronavirus claimed the lives of millions of people around the world. However, this has not stopped China from carrying out new experiments with a similar virus that has a "100% mortality rate" in humanized mice.
According to a report published by bioRxiv, Chinese researchers experimented with a mutant strain of Covid known as pangolin coronavirus GX_P2V, which was completely lethal.
The controversial study by doctors trained by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) allegedly aims to understand the interaction of the virus in humanized organisms, and to do so, genetically altered mice were used.
During the experiments, the animals were infected with the pathogen, and "surprisingly," they all died within 7 to 8 days after inoculation. "The mice began to exhibit a decrease in body weight starting from day 5 post-infection, reaching a 10% decrease from the initial weight by day 6. By the seventh day following infection, the mice displayed symptoms such as piloerection, hunched posture, and sluggish movements, and their eyes turned white," the report states.
The document reveals that high viral loads were discovered in the brain, lungs, turbinates, eyes and trachea after the infection. A lower viral load was also detected in other organs, such as the heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, tongue, stomach and intestines.
Although the results of the study have not yet been officially published, the leaked information warns about the potential risk of GX_P2V contagion to humans, which has sparked great concern internationally.
Infectious disease experts, such as Professor Francois Balloux of University College London, have strongly criticized the research, calling it "terrible" and "scientifically totally pointless."
"I can see nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanized mice with a random virus. Conversely, I could see how such stuff might go wrong," he said.
I had a look at the preprint. It's a terrible study, scientifically totally pointless. 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 ...
— Prof Francois Balloux (@BallouxFrancois) January 10, 2024
Professor Richard Ebright of Rutgers University in New Jersey joined the criticism, highlighting the lack of information about the biosafety measures used in the study, which raises concerns that the investigation may have been carried out recklessly, just as the investigation in Wuhan that may have given origin to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ebright: "The preprint does not specify the biosafety level…The absence of this information raises…possibility…this research, like the research in Wuhan…that likely caused…Covid…, was performed without…biosafety…essential for research with a potential pandemic pathogen."
— Richard H. Ebright (@R_H_Ebright) January 16, 2024
"This madness must be stopped before too late," wrote Dr. Gennadi Glinsky, a retired professor of medicine at Stanford, on social media.
This madness must be stopped before too late.
https://t.co/h3D0gjKYVT— Dr. Gennadi Glinsky, MD, Ph.D. (@gglinskii) January 15, 2024
