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> Given labs obviously keep a library of natural viruses for research purposes That isn't obvious at all. Culturing sarbecoviruses is very difficult. They ha
by lamontcg 4y ago
> Given labs obviously keep a library of natural viruses for research purposes
That isn't obvious at all. Culturing sarbecoviruses is very difficult. They have libraries of samples but they're dead and they just sequence the genomic material which is in the samples. Recovering viable virus is hard, culturing it is even more difficult.
- lazyeye 4y agoSemantics...unless you are suggesting that all natural viruses brought into the lab were inert before they passed through the doors to the lab.
- lamontcg 4y agoYes, most of the samples were. You don't need live virus in order to sequence. Which was the problem with all the studies early in 2020 finding SARS-CoV-2 mRNA on surfaces after X hours. Also the problem with high cycle count rtPCR results long after symptoms have abated. You can study genomes without ever having to deal with infectious virus, which is vastly simpler.
- lazyeye 4y agoWhats the point of the extraordinary high levels of bio-security restrictions in these labs then? Wuhan is BSL-4? https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2017.21487 https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2017.21487