New Strain Created - Kills 80% of Mice

[Kenny]

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Why are we creating it?

 

[stvdv]

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Why are we creating it?

Well, can be handy to spread Covid

I am convinced Covid originated in a lab

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Why are we creating it?

Because we're working our way up to Captain Trips.

 

[metis]

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Why are we creating it?

I need to get more on this when I have more time, but please do double-check sources as the New York Post is best used to put at the bottom of a birdcage as it is what is called "yellow journalism".

 

[Kenny]

I need to get more on this when I have more time, but please do double-check sources as the New York Post is best used to put at the bottom of a birdcage as it is what is called "yellow journalism".

I found it on multiple sources as I wanted to check the veracity. Don't find anything different than what was said.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Boston University researchers claim to have developed new, more lethal COVID strain in lab

Why are we creating it?

They are not:

BOSTON - Have you seen the headlines? Started by a British tabloid and picked up by several national US media outlets, they claim that a Boston University laboratory "created" a deadly new strain of COVID-19 with an "80% kill rate."

But the allegations are simply not true, according not only to the Boston University researchers accused of the act, but third party experts who explained what's really going on to WBZ-TV.

Researchers at Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, or NEIDL, have been at work researching COVID-19 since 2020, when they received a sample of the first COVID case recorded in Washington state. They work on research surrounding treatment, prevention, and how COVID spreads.

The goal of this 2022 study was to determine why the Omicron variant of COVID-19 seems to cause less severe disease than the virus's original strain, and to figure out what component of the virus determined its severity.

Furthermore:

But experts say, this is standard.

"I think this was blown completely out of proportion," explained Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, the Head of Infectious Disease at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He is not affiliated with the BU study.

"The type of experiments that were done are the type that essentially are done every day with COVID, and there is nothing at all unusual about this."

"If you were going to find vaccines, or you were going to be able to find some kind of test, with things like COVID, that's the kind of work you do," added Dr. Arthur Caplan, the Director of Medical Ethics at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine.

As for where the 80% figure came from, the article details the background of that:

Once researchers in the BU lab developed the combined COVID-19 strain, they injected large amounts of it into mice, to determine how deadly each version of the virus is and again, what part of the virus causes this severity level.

With the original strain of COVID-19, 100% of the mice died. With Omicron, none of the mice died. And with the combined strain, about 80% of the mice died.

That data is where viral news reports got their headlines about an "80% kill rate."

"It's not like they made this monster virus. That is a complete misinterpretation," Dr. Kuritzkes explained. Also, "what we see in animal models does not directly translate to what happens in humans," he added.

Boston University lab did not create deadly new COVID strain, experts say

Such studies are used to develop treatments and vaccines; this is not limited to COVID either. If you have ever gotten vaccinated against a disease or taken antiviral drugs, you have most likely benefited from this type of research.

Certain fields of medicine seem to have always attracted a lot of exaggeration or public fear largely due to sensationalism and misrepresentation. In the last couple of years, research to develop vaccines as well as antiviral drugs seems to have been at the forefront of this kind of alarmism—which is sometimes understandable to an extent, since people don't want to go back to lockdowns and COVID restrictions due to a new, more dangerous variant of the virus.

 

[Kenny]

With the original strain of COVID-19, 100% of the mice died. With Omicron, none of the mice died. And with the combined strain, about 80% of the mice died.
.

The combined strain IS a new strain that they created

A team of scientists from Florida and Boston at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories combined the Omicron strain’s spike protein – the unique structure that binds to and invades human cells – with that of the original virus that emerged from China’s Wuhan

 

[Kenny]

The reports sparked controversy and some friction between the university and the federal government, but Boston doctors explained during NBC10 Boston's weekly series, "COVID Q&A,"that there are strict protocols involved in this type of research and that the potential risks are always weighed against the benefits.

Emphasis mine

Boston University COVID Research Could Lead to ‘Important’ Revelations, Doctors Say – NBC Boston

 

[Debater Slayer]

The combined strain IS a new strain that they created.

It is not 80% deadly to humans, however: the Delta variant was more lethal to humans, and this one was used in research aimed at combating the virus. We have seen the pandemic stabilize due to the pervasion of Omicron, which further demonstrates that any reports about a supposedly super-lethal strain created in a lab were exaggerated and not accurate to the purpose of the research.

Research on viruses has been ongoing for decades; this is neither new nor catastrophic like some headlines might make it sound.

 

[Debater Slayer]

The reports sparked controversy and some friction between the university and the federal government, but Boston doctors explained during NBC10 Boston's weekly series, "COVID Q&A,"that there are strict protocols involved in this type of research and that the potential risks are always weighed against the benefits.

Emphasis mine

Boston University COVID Research Could Lead to ‘Important’ Revelations, Doctors Say – NBC Boston

Yes, as I have said in other posts, this type of research is not new or exclusive to COVID.

What do you suggest here? Should experts keep working on better vaccines and treatments for COVID or not? I believe they should, which entails that they need to carry out the required research.

 

[Kenny]

It is not 80% deadly to humans, however: the Delta variant was more lethal to humans, and this one was used in research aimed at combating the virus. We have seen the pandemic stabilize due to the pervasion of Omicron, which further demonstrates that any reports about a supposedly super-lethal strain created in a lab were exaggerated and not accurate to the purpose of the research.

Research on viruses has been ongoing for decades; this is neither new nor catastrophic like some headlines might make it sound.

Never said it was 80% deadly to human...

OK... go back to the original post...

WHY are we making COVID VIRUSES... more deadly... if it is 80% deadly for mice... it is INCREASING it capacity to kill hosts...

I don't care if we have done it before... WHY are we creating it - to research WHAT! It's mortality capacity?

 

[Kenny]

Yes, as I have said in other posts, this type of research is not new or exclusive to COVID.

What do you suggest here? Should experts keep working on better vaccines and treatments for COVID or not? I believe they should, which entails that they need to carry out the required research.

Making it more viral helps???

Somewhere the logic is escaping me.

 

[SkepticThinker]

The reports sparked controversy and some friction between the university and the federal government, but Boston doctors explained during NBC10 Boston's weekly series, "COVID Q&A,"that there are strict protocols involved in this type of research and that the potential risks are always weighed against the benefits.

Emphasis mine

Boston University COVID Research Could Lead to ‘Important’ Revelations, Doctors Say – NBC Boston

From the same article, just underneath the line you quoted:


"BU's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories have been studying the omicron variant and the original strain to see if omicron, while highly contagious, was still less likely to cause severe illness.

The subsequent scrutiny centered around whether or not researchers were doing what is called a gain-of-function experiment, Kuritzkes explained. In these experiments, scientists make a pathogen more virulent to see if it can more easily cause disease or resist the drugs that are used to treat it.

But Boston University denied doing such an experiment on COVID in a statement, calling online reports Monday "false and inaccurate."

“First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-COV-2 virus strain (original virus from 2020) or make it more dangerous,” the university said. "In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."

 

[Kenny]

From the same article, just underneath the line you quoted:


"BU's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories have been studying the omicron variant and the original strain to see if omicron, while highly contagious, was still less likely to cause severe illness.

The subsequent scrutiny centered around whether or not researchers were doing what is called a gain-of-function experiment, Kuritzkes explained. In these experiments, scientists make a pathogen more virulent to see if it can more easily cause disease or resist the drugs that are used to treat it.

But Boston University denied doing such an experiment on COVID in a statement, calling online reports Monday "false and inaccurate."

“First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-COV-2 virus strain (original virus from 2020) or make it more dangerous,” the university said. "In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."

We already have the original strength...

It amazes me how we were so preoccupied of COVID but then turn around and say "no problem, just play with it some more"

I don't really believe BU public announcements.

We have SARS-COVID original THAT KILLED MILLIONS... let's not make an additional strain "in the name of science" IMHO

Besides, the vaccines we have already eliminate all potential deaths (at least they told us that)

 

[SkepticThinker]

We already have the original strength...

It amazes me how we were so preoccupied of COVID but then turn around and say "no problem, just play with it some more"

I don't really believe BU public announcements.

We have SARS-COVID original THAT KILLED MILLIONS... let's not make an additional strain "in the name of science" IMHO

Besides, the vaccines we have already eliminate all potential deaths (at least they told us that)

"In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."



Of course scientists need to "play with it some more" to better understand it for the future. Is your suggestion to stop all research now? What good does that do us?

 

[Kenny]

"In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."



Of course scientists need to "play with it some more" to better understand it for the future. Is your suggestion to stop all research now? What good does that do us?

ABSOLUTELY... It kills mice more so that it will be less dangerous.

Logically wrong.

 

[SkepticThinker]

"In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."

ABSOLUTELY... It kills mice more so that it will be less dangerous.

Logically wrong.

Further down in the article you cited but doesn't seem like you read it discusses how it's actually less dangerous to mice than the original strain:


"While BU researchers were working with the hybrid virus, they took the spike protein of omicron and attached it to the original strain. In mice, they found this new fused version killed 80% of mice infected. But that's lower than the 100% that died from the original strain."



And they learned something from this experiment. Which is why they're done in the first place.


"They concluded that it's not the omicron spike protein itself that causes the virus to spread so easily but other proteins. BU researchers say identifying those proteins will help better diagnose and treat COVID ...

... Research that gets done can help scientists understand not only COVID-19 but "other viruses or other emerging infectious diseases, or current infectious diseases," Tufts Medical Center's Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez said, and that helps us understand how pathogens behave.

"But these are done with strict protocols and safety measures," she said.

The university said the same thing in its statement: “Ultimately, this research will provide a public benefit, by leading to better, targeted therapeutic interventions to help fight against future pandemics."

 

[Kenny]

Further down in the article you cited but doesn't seem like you read it discusses how it's actually less dangerous to mice than the original strain:


"While BU researchers were working with the hybrid virus, they took the spike protein of omicron and attached it to the original strain. In mice, they found this new fused version killed 80% of mice infected. But that's lower than the 100% that died from the original strain."



And they learned something from this experiment. Which is why they're done in the first place.


"They concluded that it's not the omicron spike protein itself that causes the virus to spread so easily but other proteins. BU researchers say identifying those proteins will help better diagnose and treat COVID ...

... Research that gets done can help scientists understand not only COVID-19 but "other viruses or other emerging infectious diseases, or current infectious diseases," Tufts Medical Center's Dr. Gabriela Andujar Vazquez said, and that helps us understand how pathogens behave.

"But these are done with strict protocols and safety measures," she said.

The university said the same thing in its statement: “Ultimately, this research will provide a public benefit, by leading to better, targeted therapeutic interventions to help fight against future pandemics."

No... let's look at it more clearly:


They extracted the spike protein from Omicron and attached it with the strain first detected at the onset of the pandemic that began in Wuhan, China. They then documented how the mice reacted to the hybrid strain.

“In … mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in a research paper.


Very specifically they took Omicron and made it more deadly.

That's called "gain of function"

 

[SkepticThinker]

No... let's look at it more clearly:


They extracted the spike protein from Omicron and attached it with the strain first detected at the onset of the pandemic that began in Wuhan, China. They then documented how the mice reacted to the hybrid strain.

“In … mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in a research paper.


Very specifically they took Omicron and made it more deadly.

That's called "gain of function"

No they didn't, as explained in the quote from the article that I just provided for you that points out that is not what they did.

“First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-COV-2 virus strain (original virus from 2020) or make it more dangerous,” the university said. "In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."


100% of mice died from the original strain. Eighty percent is a lower than 100%.


"While BU researchers were working with the hybrid virus, they took the spike protein of omicron and attached it to the original strain. In mice, they found this new fused version killed 80% of mice infected. But that's lower than the 100% that died from the original strain."

 

[Kenny]

No they didn't, as explained in the quote from the article that I just provided for you that points out that is not what they did.

“First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-COV-2 virus strain (original virus from 2020) or make it more dangerous,” the university said. "In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous."


100% of mice died from the original strain. Eighty percent is a lower than 100%.


"While BU researchers were working with the hybrid virus, they took the spike protein of omicron and attached it to the original strain. In mice, they found this new fused version killed 80% of mice infected. But that's lower than the 100% that died from the original strain."

you are not reading what it said...

I repeat:

They extracted the spike protein from Omicron and attached it with the strain first detected at the onset of the pandemic that began in Wuhan, China. They then documented how the mice reacted to the hybrid strain.

“In … mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80 percent,” they wrote in a research paper.


Very specifically they took Omicron and made it more deadly.

That's called "gain of function"

whether it is less than the original is irrelevant.