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chinese scientists create mutant covid strain that kills mice
scientists in china have created a mutant strain of cov...
jan 17 2024
1 minute read
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scientists in china have created a mutant strain of covid-19 in a lab that has a 100% death rate for mice with human genes.
the pre-print study, published in early january on biorxiv by researchers in beijing, identified two sars-cov-2-related pangolin coronaviruses documented in 2017 and 2019, before the covid-19 outbreak, called pcov-gd01 and gx_p2v.
the scientists focused on gx_p2v and created a strain that infected the lungs, bones, eyes, tracheas and brains of four lab mice.
after infecting them with the engineered gx_p2v virus, scientists noted the rodents began losing weight, showed signs of a hunched back and became lethargic before their eyes turned white.
the test subjects died within eight days, which researchers said was “surprisingly” quick.
“this finding suggested that severe brain infection during the later stages of infection may be the key cause of death in these mice,” the authors of the paper wrote.
there is a potential the gx_p2v virus could infect humans, the researchers warned, although there is no evidence that this version of the virus is in the wild.
“to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing that a sars-cov-2-related pangolin coronavirus can cause 100% mortality in hace2 (humanized) mice, suggesting a risk for gx_p2v to spill over into humans,” the authors said.
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pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals that are found in the warmer climates of asia and africa. they are an evolutionary — but not direct — link to the current covid-19 virus.
after its publication, the director of the genetics institute at the university college london called the pre-print study “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,” prof. francois balloux shared on social media site x . “conversely, i could see how such stuff might go wrong …”
balloux added the research was likely “submitted to a scientific journal under a ‘letter to the editor’ format.”
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