3 ms·
The interesting thing here, hidden between the lines, is the implication that these were laboratory mice.
by Mizza 5y ago
The interesting thing here, hidden between the lines, is the implication that these were laboratory mice.
- dave4420 5y agoWhat do you see that implies that?
- xg15 5y agoI gotta admit, that was my first thought as well when I read the title - but I can't find anything in the actual text that suggests that. It only seems to talk about mice in general. Where do you see that implication?
- moistly 5y agoHadn’t crossed my mind, because I’m still assuming it ultimately came via a bat research project. But now that you bring it up… I ddg “are bats and mice close cousins” and get a reference to moving a bat coronavirus into mice: > Eloit’s team plans to put BANAL-236 into “humanized” mice and possibly monkeys to see whether it can cause disease > The BANAL isolates join a growing list of bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 [found all over the place] > The BANAL isolates, like all close relatives of SARS-CoV-2, are missing a signature component of the pandemic virus known as the furin cleavage site https://www.science.org/content/article/close-cousins-sars-cov-2-found-cave-laos-yield-new-clues-about-pandemic-s-origins https://www.science.org/content/article/close-cousins-sars-c... [Edit: IMO] So bat-sourced, transferred to mice for further investigation, and accidentally transferred to human is a very plausible pathway. All it would take is a furin cleavage event turning it into super-measles, a mouse sneeze or a carelessly handled dead mouse, and a handler is not wearing googles or the mask isn’t well-fitted, and all of a sudden we’re living in a Crichton or King novel. Wouldn’t be the first dangerous bio lab leak, unlikely to be the last.