A Chinese lab released a study earlier this year documenting its experiments on a particularly lethal coronavirus variant, with a 100 percent mortality rate on mice modified to mimic human viral reception.
The mice exposed to the strain, known as GX_P2V, all died within seven or eight days after the introduction of the virus, likely due to a brain infection occurring later in the viral process, scientists said in a pre-print detailing a study from Beijing, released Jan. 4. By day seven, the mice exhibited symptoms including weight loss, slouched posture, and white eyes. …
“It’s a terrible study, scientifically totally pointless. I can see nothing of vague interest that could be learned from force-infecting a weird breed of humanized mice with a random virus,” wrote University College London Genetics Institute director Francois Balloux on X, formerly Twitter. “Conversely, I could see how such stuff might go wrong.”
[Ya think?? Apparently no one in Beijing learned a lesson from the 2019 Wuhan lab leak. Unfortunately, we will all learn it the hard way eventually, it seems. Next question: Did this study involve US funding? — Ed]
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