SARS virus possibly manmade by the Chinese

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Bob Porter <bporter () theideasgroup com>
Organization: The Ideas Group
Reply-To: bporter () theideasgroup com
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 13:46:43 -0700
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: SARS virus possibly manmade by the Chinese

Dave,

Below are two journal citations from a Chinese government respiratory
research facility working on mutations of coronovirus in the province where
the first outbreak was.

 

This from a bio researcher friend:

³This virus was very possibly an escaped lab freak. I would guess RSV capsid
and toxin genes inserted in coronovirus, gives it an incubation period of up
to 14 days that appears to off about 40% of over-50 adults but does not
infect children hardly at all----exact opposite of most respiratory viruses.
The reported mortality rate is highly skewed to over-40 crowd. I still think
if it was deliberately created to kill, it was with getting rid of useless
elderly in mind.

I pulled up multiple other articles as well showing a significant number of
publications from labs using various mutations of coronovirus, including
experiments dabbling with capsid genes that confer species-specifity with
one paper blandly reporting a mutation they made that permitted bovine CV to
infect all other mammals, and also RSV...most articles from China and

Germany.² 

 

See below for snippets of abstracts.

 

[Primary respiratory syncytial virus infection in mice]

 

[Article in Chinese]

 

Zou Y, Huang H, Xu J.

 

Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou 510120, China.

 

OBJECTIVE: To establish a mice-model of primary respiratory syncytial

virus infection. METHODS: Twelve Balb/c mice (8-12 w) were divided into

two groups with three different titers of RSV infection in the

experimental group. Mice were anaesthetized with pentobabitone(30 mg/kg)

and infected by nasal drip of 0.1 ml of RSV which was harvested from HEP-2

cell culture. Three mice in the control group received sham infection with

HEP-2 cell media. Five days later, lungs were removed in aseptic

condition. Right lung was weighted and homogenized with MEM(1:10 ratio),

then centrifuged at 4 degrees C, 2,000 r/min for 20 minutes. Supernatants

were collected for virus isolation and plaque forming assay. Left lung was

collected for histopathological and electromicroscopic examination.

RESULTS: (1) RSV grew with a characteristic syncytial formation in HEP-2

cells, leading to the fusion of cells with round, elliptic, map or tree

like shape. (2) Virus was isolated and detected in the lung tissue in

experiment group. (3) There was a positive correlation between RSV titer

added and that replicated in the lung. (4) After the eclipse phase, viral

replication in the lung reached maximum within 4 and 6 days. The most

apparent pathological change was found between day 5 and 8. Mononuclear

cell infiltration was presented in the perivascular, peribronchial and in

the alveoli spacers. (5) Huge viral replication with its fuzzy coat was

detected inside the cytoplasm of the type II alveolar lining cell at high

magnification. CONCLUSION: An animal model of RSV infection Balb/c mice

was successfully established by nasal inoculation with respiratory

syncytial virus.

10. [Relationship between human parvovirus B19 infection and spontaneous

abortion]

 

[Article in Chinese]

 

Wang R, Chen X, Han M.

 

Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Command.

 

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a relationship between parvovirus

B19 infection and spontaneous abortion. METHODS: 105 embryo tissues from

spontaneous abortions of unknown cause during 1994-1995 were studied using

nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for parvovirus B19 DNA. As

controls 40 fetal tissues were also examined. Among which, 20 were

collected from induced abortions, and the others were stillbirths. The

positive specimens underwent further study for TORCH infections. RESULTS:

26 (24.5%) were B19 DNA positive in the case group and 2 (5.0%) in the

control group. The difference was significant (P < 0.05). Among 26

positive specimens, 5 had cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection as well as 2 had

both CMV and herpes simplex virus (RSV) infections. CONCLUSIONS:

Parvovirus B19 infection may be an important pathogen for spontaneous

abortion, and it is suggested to investigate parvovirus B19 infection

among pregnant women in China.


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