Coronavirus manipulated in a Chinese laboratory: a new mutant strain of the virus created turns out to be 100% deadly

Des recherches qui se sont avérées surprenantes et inquiétantes. Illustration Fernando Zhiminaicela/Pixabay

Published scientific research related to coronaviruses from Pangolin is considered dangerous and “very concerning”.

Should we be concerned about scientific research with the aim of developing a vaccine ? Work in this direction is being carried out all over the world, but when we talk about coronavirus, of virus manipulation and Chinese laboratory, memories of the Covid-19 pandemic immediately resurface.

Viruses identified before the Covid crisis

Two viruses similar to Covid-19 taken from pangolins were discovered in 2017, well before the appearance of Covid-19 and the resulting pandemic. Chinese researchers then isolated them to examine and manipulate them later.

Once inoculated into hamsters and mice modified to resemble human characteristics, the viruses had opposite effects. But one of the two initially harmless viruses, GX-P2V, has mutated, making this new strain extremely dangerous.

This modification occurred while it was being grown in the lab. The researchers wanted to understand the mechanisms of this very rapid mutation before infecting mice. The latter are all dead.

The researchers, who published their work in the scientific journal Biorxiv on January 11, 2024, believe that the virus would have triggered an infection in the brains of the animals. And assume that the outcome would be the same in the event of human contamination.

“Pangolin coronavirus GX_P2V can cause 100% mortality in human transgenic mice, potentially attributable to late-stage brain infection. This highlights a risk of propagation of GX_P2V in humans, it is written.

A risk ?

Faced with this discovery, the pre-publication of which has not yet been validated by the scientific community, concerns have emerged.

For the research director at the CNRS, Bruno Canard, this is research “very worrying on many points&rdquo ;, as reported by Le Figaro.

Beyond the interest of this work, there are significant risks to take into account when creating a deadly virus. Especially since an escape into nature is always possible.

Many researchers call for this type of practice to be very controlled. These manipulations carried out by scientists from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology are completely prohibited in France.