Coronavirus: made in USA?
Everything is possible
The study of the most dangerous viruses and microorganisms is one of the highest priorities of any developed state. In Russia, this is done, in particular, in the Federal State Institution “State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology“ Vector ”, located near Novosibirsk, in Koltsovo. It is this center for many regions of the country that is now the reference center for determining human infection with COVID-19 infection. In the United States, Fort Detrick was responsible for such a dangerous area for many decades, recently closed, by the way, due to the failure of the security system.
When working with such viruses, there is always the temptation to transform the genetic filling. Why is this done? This is often due to the unique ability of deadly viruses to penetrate the cell wall and integrate their genetic material into the nucleus. So, the Ebola virus was planned (in an altered form, naturally) to be used to treat glioblastoma in mice. By the way, such studies took place in China. Often, experiments of this kind are carried out in order to determine the pathogenic potential of a new virus.
The virus clings to the infected cell with the s-protein of the same notorious “corona”. Source: ru.wikipedia.org
No matter what the skeptics from the scientific community say, but at the moment there is reason to believe that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was created by human hands.
Let's start history since 2015, when American biotechnologists created a hybrid virus assembled from the surface protein of the SHC014 virus, the host of which is the horseshoe bats, and the genetic material of the SARS virus. The latter became known in 2002-2003 after it became the causative agent of SARS. In general, medical research on coronaviruses is quite common: up to a third of all modern respiratory diseases are caused by viruses from this group. And five years ago, the creators of this "chimera" proved that the modified SHC014 binds perfectly to the main receptors of human cells and, accordingly, can infect it. According to the authors of this project, before them no one believed in the possibility of such a transfer, and as a result, a new hybrid virus called SHC014-MA15 proliferated well in human tissue cultures in vitro. The main method of biotechnology work was reverse genetics: by modifying the genotype of the virus, scientists are observing what consequences this leads to. By the way, experiments were performed with tissues of highly differentiated epithelium of the human respiratory tract. It was the lungs that were the main target for the viral "chimera." Together with the Americans from the Institute of Infectious Diseases of the US Army, the specialists from the Laboratory of Special Pathogens and Biosafety of the Wuhan Institute of Virology participated in the project, which once again suggests an odd coincidence. Scientists seriously approached the issue, observing all biosafety requirements, in particular, the laboratory equipment was certified in accordance with the requirements of the Biosafety level 3 laboratory standard - this is the penultimate level on the pathogen hazard scale.
Perhaps the horseshoe carrier was the primary host of SARS-CoV-2. And maybe not. Source: web-zoopark.ru
Probably the most famous image of recent months is the computer reconstruction of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Source: ru.wikipedia.org
In 2015, as a result, the researchers were scolded for excessive risk and violation of the US ban on working with such things, but, as we now see, no one made any conclusions. The introduction of a ban on further studies to enhance the pathogenicity of the SARS and MERS viruses suggests that no one five years ago gave a guarantee of the safety of such work. At the level of the US Department of Health, bans were introduced (albeit temporary) on research in this area, and now medical officials are trying to convince everyone of the impossibility of creating artificial pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, which caused a modern pandemic.
As a result, humanity, as it was not ready for a pandemic before the creation of the "chimera," remained defenseless after the experiment. Only in 2018, a vaccine was developed that prevented the hybrid virus from infecting the cells of experimental mice. Infection occurs with the notorious corona, consisting of S protein molecules necessary for penetration into the cell. To clarify, the vaccine was tested in laboratory animals - they have not reached clinical trials in humans. This, of course, proves that the same “chimeric" virus is very vaguely similar to the modern human coronavirus - otherwise the vaccine would be quickly “doped” and sold already at every corner. But this raises a new question about biosafety issues.
Biosafety and World Military Games
Some information for thought. Since 1937, 39 types of coronaviruses have become known to mankind, of which at least two have already caused serious epidemics - in 2002-2003 it was SARS-CoV SARS and in 2012, the “activity” of the MERS-CoV virus was observed in Saudi Arabia. In both cases, the source was bats that transmitted their pathogens through other animals. In the case of SARS-CoV, it was a Malay palm marten (musang), and in Saudi Arabia the one-humped camel was an intermediate host. Then this disease was mistakenly called camel flu, although Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome is more correct. The MERS-CoV caused by it provoked a very high mortality rate - up to a third of the sick died. The situation was saved only by the low probability of transmission of the virus from person to person. In the situation with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which all scientists in the world have been researching over the past few months, they have not even found 100% of the primary host - there are only suggestions that these are horseshoe rags. But the wild virus of this bat is seriously different from the "human" one, in particular, the structure of the proteins on that same crown. And he, accordingly, cannot infect a person. Perhaps the situation will be clarified by the intermediate owner, but only near-scientific assumptions are now circulating about him. Actually, until researchers determine these two types, no one will be able to completely refute the theory of the artificial origin of a modern pandemic. Moreover, coronaviruses are currently very well studied and biotechnologists have tools for manipulating such pathogens.
Back to the American biological pathogens. The previously mentioned Fort Detrick Laboratory in Maryland was closed in early August last year due to non-compliance with strict biological safety rules - there was simply no guarantee that deadly strains of viruses and bacteria could not break free. At the same time, wording of the type “for reasons of national security” appeared. One of the reasons was the inefficient sterilization of waste and equipment using chemical compounds. Laboratories recommended a return to the old heat treatment. This, incidentally, is not the first closure of Fort Detrick for organizational reasons. In 2009, the laboratory discovered a “shortage” of some very dangerous pathogens, for example, anthrax. That is, biosafety at such serious defense facilities in the United States has long been lame.
We follow the chronology of events further. On August 31, 2019, the New York Times informed the whole world about an outbreak in the United States of new respiratory diseases, the causes of which at that time were associated with newfangled vapes. From rapidly developing pneumonia in 30 states, several people die. At the same time, several dozen patients out of five hundred hospitalized never smoked vape. Outbreaks of a respiratory illness of unknown origin are also recorded in September 2019 in Hawaii among ethnic Japanese. They were not previously in China and could not be infected with coronavirus, however, the clinical manifestations of the disease, as it later turned out, were close to COVID-19.
Finally, the World War Games, which Wuhan hosted on October 18–27, 2019, and after which the first patients with a new respiratory syndrome appeared. In the city for several days there were at least 200 US troops who could well be carriers of the coronavirus. Where did the American soldiers come from? From Fort Detrick, which had been covered up a couple of months earlier because of the potential for leaks of dangerous pathogens. Over time, coronavirus spread throughout the United States, but before the height of the global pandemic, no one paid attention to the increasing incidence of pneumonia. That is why now Americans are among the leaders in SARS-CoV-2 infection - initially there were a lot of foci. The absence of a “zero patient,” the man with whom the epidemic in the country began, also plays a role in this. This, by the way, is one of the harmless versions of the emergence of a pandemic. A more sinister look is the disguise of Wuhan.
All the conditions for the lightning-fast spread of the virus were created precisely in China - multi-million cities with extremely high crowded populations, as well as close contact with various animals that can transmit the pathogen from the wild. In addition, Wuhan also has its own biolaboratory, which can be blamed for violating biosafety rules. Undoubtedly, no one says that a new biological was deliberately brought into Wuhan weapon - nevertheless, few will dare to act so recklessly. But declaring the country responsible for the nascent pandemic is quite possible. Only until a certain point is it necessary to hide the epidemic in your own country.
Some more information for thought. Now about the mutational variability of coronaviruses. The fact is that the SARS-CoV-2 genome consists of RNA (ribonucleic acid), which for a number of reasons is unable to correct random or directed mutations. Here DNA viruses (for example, smallpox virus) can independently correct themselves, even in the host cells. But not coronaviruses. This is both the strength and weakness of the RNA virus group. They can accidentally mutate, spreading to new owners, and can gain a lot of harmful mutations and eventually disappear. Therefore, coronaviruses become an excellent object for various experiments on artificial mutagenesis, during which pathogenicity can also be enhanced. The propagation speed of SARS-CoV-2 is now simply enormous - the virus reproduces itself in gigantic quantities, inevitably mutating, which will, to a certain extent, make it possible to mask the original essence of the pathogen.
At the end of the article, it makes sense to talk about the side effects of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. To the extreme, the warmed-up viewers of the central channels, readers of the yellow press and exalted Internet resources fall into a panic, “protecting” themselves from adversity by folk and not very means. And it’s good if they are harmless ginger, garlic or lemon. But citizens of different countries in a futile attempt to save themselves from a simple SARS (which, of course, are mistaken for COVID-19) swallow broad-spectrum antibiotics - this smells like a global biological diversion. The immune properties of the body are markedly reduced against the background of such a powerful attack of antibiotics, which causes the collective immunity of the population to suffer and a person becomes more susceptible to new infections. The cycle closes. In addition, new strains of microorganisms are forming, which have already mutated very well in the human body, and stress in the form of antibiotics stimulates this with renewed vigor. New forms of bacteria are formed, characterized by greater antibiotic resistance (i.e. resistance to antibiotics), which require new, more powerful agents to neutralize. In 2018, about 50 thousand people died from drug-resistant infections in the United States and Europe. Notice, no one has beaten the alarm from so many victims. Just 12 months ago, the forecast for 2050 predicted losses from such super-infections of the order of 10 million people annually. Now, against the background of feverish demand for all kinds of broad-spectrum drugs, this number, of course, will be adjusted. The upcoming “pandemic” from persistent superinfection will become much larger than it is now. She certainly will not cause such hysteria.
Information