In 2019, at the start of the COVVI-19 epidemic, the Wuhan virology laboratory-the Chinese city where the first cases appeared-has been working on coronavirus for a few years. So does the Sars-Cov-2 virus, responsible for this pandemic, comes from this Chinese laboratory which, accidentally, would have contaminated humans before spreading throughout the planet? Today, this hypothesis is increasingly mentioned to explain the emergence of the pandemic. According to many experts, this scenario would prevail over that of a “natural” epidemic as it occurs at regular intervals. In the latter case, a virus from a wild animal “tank” would then have been transmitted to humans …
For six years, moreover, the Chinese authorities have defended the thesis of “natural origin”. But Beijing has always refused to reveal all the data on the subject and certain elements (genetic analyzes of the virus, samples from animals in Wuhan, information on research from the Wuhan laboratory) rather towards a laboratory accident. A report on the origin of this virus, published in early April by the Academy of Medicine, under the direction of Christine Rouzioux, professor emeritus of virology in Paris, takes stock. Without taking a frankly position, it brings solid arguments to the “laboratory accident” hypothesis. Like other documents published recently by the FBI, the CIA, the American Congress and the German intelligence services.
The virus responsible for the COVVI-19 has never been found on animals in Wuhan, nor throughout China
Twenty million deaths are attributed to the pandemic of Covid-19 in the world, with major economic and social consequences. “Knowing the truth is important to go towards more security in research laboratories and protect yourself from another pandemic”says Professor Rouzioux. In this situation of uncertainty, what are the arguments in favor of the natural origin of the covid? “It is normal to think first of all that the pandemic of Covid-19 has a natural origin, because this is the case of the vast majority of epidemics that regularly emergeexplains Professor Patrick Berche, former director of the Pasteur Institute of Lille. This is for example what happened in 2002-2003, with the Sars-Cov-1 epidemic, a virus from the same family, which also started in China. It was quickly discovered, at the time, that certain species of bat, in China, hosted coronavirus, then transmitted to the palm civet, a small mammal sold in markets in southern China. These ceremonies then contaminated humans and left more than 7,000 people around the world. »» However, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 has never been found on animals in Wuhan, nor throughout China, despite more than 80,000 samples from domestic or wild species, pangolins, ceremonies, viverrin dogs … It is a first argument that tips scientists to the thesis of the laboratory accident. And it is not the only one.
Over the years, several have added. “The pandemic started in Wuhan in September 2019, even if the first cases were identified in January 2020. However, all the patients, at the beginning, carried an almost identical viruscontinues Professor Berche. We know that when a virus passes from animals to humans with an intermediate animal, the initial viral strains are much more polymorphic. The virus also diversified very quickly afterwards, with a very high transfer rate. »»
Other aspects of SARS-COV-2 challenge virologists. This virus presents in particular a so -called “furine” site (biological characteristic of the virus), with four particular amino acids, which allows it to be more virulent. To date, researchers have never identified other viruses from the same family presenting this varine site … But it is on this specific point that the research carried out in the Wuhan virology laboratory is working … Rewn: after two human epidemics, in 2002 and 2011, American virologists have looked into these viruses responsible for respiratory infections. “A Sino-American scientific project called Defuse proposed, in 2018, to modify these viruses by adding in particular a varine site to increase their virulence”explains Professor Rouzioux.
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“There are more arguments to say that the virus is not of natural origin”
The goal was then to infect transgenic mice with this modified virus, in order to test antiviral drugs and vaccines on these mice. “These manipulations were prohibited in the United States. The American teams then proposed to Chinese virologists to do these experiments in Wuhan … What exactly did they do? At the end of 2019, during the discovery of the epidemic, all the emails of the Wuhan laboratory had already been deleted, all the databases in virology, in China, had become inaccessible “continues the professor. What is certain is that the SARS-COV-2 has in any case common points with the experimental virus which was to be developed by the Wuhan laboratory…
“There are more arguments to say that the virus is not of natural origin, even if the truth is not yet established and that the file is eminently political”concludes Professor Berche.
