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China researchers working with 100% lethality COVID-variant (source changed to official study, biased right-wing link removed to body, my thanks to crypticthree)

Just a moment...

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.03.574008v1.full

EDIT:

Main link changed to actual study https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.03.574008v1.full
Removed previous link: https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/china-cloned-covid-like-virus-to-test-on-mice-acknowledges-spillover-risk-to-humans-coronavirus-pandemic-ccp-beijing-gain-of-function-wuhan-lab-testing-corona-covid-19-asia-health-fauci-bio?

This is all over a lot of BULLSHIT right-wing sites. The link I provided is the only high-factuality source I could find. Can anyone confirm this story, or is it made up right-wing nutter bait?

I'm hoping even if correct, that it's still extremely misconstrued or misrepresented. Requesting assistance if someone sees a decent source on this one.

14 comments

crypticthree

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The best source you can find is a Sinclair op. My guess is it's nonsense

rivermonster

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I sure hope so. It's why I asked for a confirmation, and I am skeptical of virtually all right-leaning sources. But MBFC rates it as high-factuality, so I was curious if anyone had seen the story debunked or presented in a non-biased manner. I'd like to post any material debunking it, and/or debias'ing it.

crypticthree

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It's factual but the language is really loaded. They didn't "clone" it anymore than you clone other things you grow on agar. This strain has very high mortality for rodents but the article could easily be misinterpreted as indicating high mortality in humans. This seems less like lies and more like too much heat and not enough light

rivermonster

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Thank you! What scientific purpose or usefulness do you think there is in messing with this pangolin crap (other than bioweapons)? And do you think it's worth the risk?

EDIT: Do you have any better sources? I've been striking out with anything I feel comfortable relying on for this one, but am very interested in the topic.

crypticthree

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Just read the study they're citing. The summary is pretty clear for a scientific paper

rivermonster

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Changed the link and title, added the old study for referencing the bias and loaded language. Thank you, again, for all of your help.

EDIT: Also, this variant scares the fuck out of me.

crypticthree

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Whatever you do, don't Google Prions

rivermonster

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Goddamit, you know I would. This summary is nightmare fuel, I wish it was just a sci-fi story:

Prions are misfolded proteins that can cause neurodegenerative diseases like mad cow disease, kuru, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They work by converting normal prion proteins into abnormal, misfolded forms.
Prion diseases are caused by changes to the prion protein and are uniformly lethal once symptoms appear.
Prion diseases can be acquired through inheritance, contaminated food/tissues, or contaminated medical equipment despite standard sterilization practices.
Prions are extremely resistant to degradation and survive high heat, chemicals, radiation, and sterilization methods. Their structure makes them highly durable.
Prions can remain infectious on stainless steel surfaces for years and are very difficult to fully remove from medical equipment.
Some evidence suggests neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may potentially be transmissible via surgical equipment as well.
The amyloid aggregates involved in these diseases also stick tenaciously to surfaces and survive sterilization like prions.
If these diseases could be transmitted, it would have major implications given their prevalence compared to prion diseases.
More extreme sterilization protocols may be needed for equipment used on patients with prion/neurodegenerative diseases.
Prions demonstrate the remarkable hardiness and infectious potential of certain misfolded protein structures.

crypticthree

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You study new strains of viruses because viruses are prone to mutation and on a long enough timeline those novel mutations might happen in a virus that has hit the human population.

There's very little reason to use biological agents for military purposes. Viruses don't care what uniform you're wearing.

And it's absolutely worth the risk. We've been doing this for decades and there are very few documented incidents associated with this sort of research.

rivermonster

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Awesome, thank you for the insightful response!

surewhynotlem

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This doesn't even pass the sniff test. It would be supremely idiotic to base a bio-weapon on a disease that we are extremely ready to create the most high-tech vaccines for.

rivermonster

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Yep, we discussed that in the convo below. You're correct.