A recent report by the Daily Mail has raised alarming questions about the safety of virology research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. It reveals that a man-made strain of polio, named WIV14, has allegedly leaked from the lab and shares a staggering 99% genetic similarity with a strain that infected a 4-year-old boy in Anhui province, China. This incident echoes concerns about previous leaks, including the COVID-19 virus, and highlights the serious implications of inadequate safety measures in high-stakes virology research. As experts call for thorough investigations, the world watches closely to understand the potential ramifications of these findings.
The same Wuhan lab that leaked the COVID-19 virus has also ‘accidentally’ leaked a ‘man-made’ strain of polio, according to a new report obtained by the Daily Mail.
According to a new study, the strain that infected a 4-year-old boy in the Anhui province of China is “99%” identical to a man-made variety stored at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, 200 miles away. The child became infected in the midst of the province of Anhui’s larger virus outbreak.
Oann.com reports: Molecular biologist Richard Ebright, who was not involved with the research, maintains that “the findings underscore the shocking unsafe state of global virology research.”
“Richard H. Ebright, Ph.D., is Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers University and Laboratory Director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology. He directs a laboratory of approximately ten postdoctoral associates, graduate students, and technicians and serves as project leader on three National Institutes of Health research grants,” according to waksman.rutgers.edu.
However, the origins of the strain, known as WIV14, still needs to be investigated, as other researchers are not positive that it undoubtedly originated in the Wuhan facility.
On the other hand, researchers at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, surmise that it likely originated from a 1950s strain of the virus that was mostly utilized in testing laboratories in order to develop vaccines.
Nevertheless, there are still grounds for their suspicions, such as the lab’s reputation for inadequate safety protocols and the relative closeness of Anhui province to Wuhan.
The polio strain would be the most recent in a string of safety breaches if it could be linked to the Chinese state-run facility. Due to a previous congressional investigation, the Biden administration cut funds for the facility just last year.
In 2022, after the polio case was discovered via a 4-year-old boy in the Anhui province of China, polio reappeared in the United States for the first time in ten years when the virus was found in sewage “more than 70 times” in New York during tests.
Researchers at the Pasteur Institute compared the complete genome DNA of the WIV14 polio strain to that of the “Saukett A” strain, which is what is used to develop most polio vaccinations.
The difference between the two strains’ genomes, which comprise more than 7,000 of the basic DNA building blocks, was discovered to be just 70 nucleotides (nt).
“Most people who get infected with poliovirus will not have any visible symptoms.
About 1 out of 4 people with poliovirus infection will have flu-like symptoms that can include:
- Sore throat
- Fever
- Tiredness
- Nausea
- Headache
- Stomach pain
These symptoms usually last 2 to 5 days, then go away on their own,” according to the CDC.
