3 ms·
Yes. That lab they talked about only had the bat coronavirus. That doesn't normally infect humans so even if there was a leak, it would be traceable though anal
by mrlonglong 6y ago
Yes. That lab they talked about only had the bat coronavirus. That doesn't normally infect humans so even if there was a leak, it would be traceable though analysis. This would be a different story if they also had the pangolin coronavirus there as well. But they didn't.
- SlipperySlope 6y agoGoF was used to make the bat virus infect humans... Reasoning was to develop vaccines in advance. Duh. "What they were worried about was something called “gain-of-function” research, in which the virulence or transmissibility of dangerous pathogens is deliberately increased. The purpose is to help scientists predict how viruses might evolve in ways that hurt humans before it happens in nature. But by bypassing pathogens’ natural evolutionary cycles, these experiments create risks of a human-made outbreak if a lab accident were to occur. For this reason, the Obama administration issued a moratorium on gain-of-function experiments in October 2014. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had openly participated in gain-of-function research in partnership with U.S. universities and institutions. "
- brippalcharrid 6y agoThe PRRA polybasic furin cleavage site somehow managed to get into just the right part of the virus structure so that it was really effective at getting into humans cells (but not at infecting bats, or pangolins for that matter). The closest known relative (itself a major discovery) was somehow forgotten about for the last five or so years, and by the time news of it came to public attention, it just so happened that all of the physical samples of it had been destroyed I'm starting to become bemused at the people are now talking about the lab origin as having been somewhat obvious all along.