Virologists must now work closely with government regulators worldwide to devise and implement reforms. Our work is now under close political scrutiny, which is fair provided the attention is rational. The reputation of the world’s virology community has taken a major hit in the past year. And therein lies the problem: Whether or not the lab-leak theory on the origin of Covid-19 is correct, virologists have had a long time to come to terms with gain-of-function research. Whether that truly happened depends largely on how gain-of-function experiments are defined. It resurfaced last year when as-yet unproven allegations arose that some of the work on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was related to gain of function and not always conducted under appropriate safety conditions. The virology community’s debate over gain-of-function research started a decade ago, and involved dangerous influenza viruses like H5N1. Because of the obvious risks to humanity, it is - or should be - tightly regulated. This work involves the experimental manipulation of a pathogen, most commonly a virus, in ways that increase its capacity to infect and/or spread among people. One positive outcome is that lab-leak theory has refocused the world’s virologists on an important scientific topic: gain-of-function research. Allegations have been made that lab-leak opponents must have conflicts of interest, however nebulous. The scientific community has also been riven by unpleasant disputes. government funds could not have created SARS-CoV-2, The most recent lab-leak related controversy has centered on grant-related paperwork violations. The available public records show that the work done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology using U.S. The ongoing rhetoric from Republican politicians about the origin of Covid-19 accomplishes nothing other than further polarizing U.S. The NIH and Fauci soon became targets for Republican venom, because a grant from the NIAID transferred money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for research on bat viruses with the potential to infect humans. The lab-leak theory was a useful way to deflect public attention away from the grossly inadequate American response to the spreading pandemic. The Trump administration saw political advantage during 2020 in blaming China for an event that derailed Trump’s electoral prospects. The debate is between the natural-origin and lab-leak theories, and it is becoming increasingly sterile and ever-more vicious. More outlandish theories, such as the suggestion that the Chinese government created and released SARS-CoV-2 as a germ warfare weapon or that the virus originated in the USA and reached China via infected American athletes or even contaminated Maine lobsters can be discounted. The lack of hard facts precludes certainty and the knowledge gaps will probably not now be filled. We may never know the origin of Covid-19. But did this transmission occur “naturally” when a bat encountered a human, whether in the Wuhan hinterlands or in a “wet market” where wild animals are sold as food? Or did an experimentally manipulated bat virus infect laboratory workers in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and then escape into the local population? The initial events in the Covid-19 pandemic took place in or near Wuhan, China, in late 2019 when a virus that was likely endemic to bats infected one or more humans and then began to spread from person to person. Is there any point to continuing an increasingly fractious debate on the origin of Covid-19, or should we now focus on applying the lessons already learned, and think about the future? intelligence community has now concluded that the precise sequence of events by which SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, entered the human population may never be known. The American public is understandably interested in how a pandemic that has killed nearly 750,000 people in this country and almost 5 million worldwide - with few signs of slowing down - emerged. Exclusive analysis of biotech, pharma, and the life sciences Learn More
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |