Researchers at Boston University's biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) lab have created a COVID variant with an 80% mortality rate in mice, not people.
The team of medical scientists combined the omicron variant spike protein with the original virus “to help fight against future pandemics.”
The University responded to misleading claims about the research:
We want to address the false and inaccurate reporting about Boston University COVID-19 research, which appeared today in the Daily Mail,” said the BU statement. “First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARS-CoV-2 virus strain or make it more dangerous. In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous.
The effects on mice cannot be generalized to humans.
Fox News has more:
The variant, a combination of Omicron and the original virus in Wuhan, killed 80% of the mice infected with it, the university said. When mice were only exposed to Omicron, they experienced mild symptoms.
The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Florida and Boston at the school's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.
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.
The research is part of an ongoing effort to provide a more targeted approach to fighting the COVID-19 variants.
This story is developing. Stay with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
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