Chinese scientists have reportedly skirted biosafety rules and manufactured a mutant Ebola virus which killed eight out of 10 of a group of lab hamsters. Researchers state the goal of the study was to find a workable model for studying the spread of the Ebola virus in the future. The lethal virus is required by international regulation to be handled in biosafety labs with a level 4 (most labs are only a 2).In order to skirt the rules, the constructed virus was engineered with pieces of a contagious livestock disease (vesicular stomatitis virus) and an Ebola glycoprotein that allows the virus to infect and spread through the human body by a team of researchers at Hebei Medical University, the Daily Mail reported. The hamsters suffered horrific symptoms and “developed severe systemic diseases similar to those observed in human Ebola patients, including multi-organ failure,” and secretions in the eyes which ended up in severe scabs on their eyeballs, the study published in the Chinese journal Virologica Sinica reports.Researchers used five male and five female three-week-old Syrian hamsters. All five female hamsters exhibited multi-organ failure, decreased rectal temperature and lost 18% of their body mass. All five died within two to three days. Three of the five male hamsters lost 15% body mass and died within 3.5 days. Two of the male hamsters, however, survived and gained 20% body mass. After harvesting the dead hamsters’ organs, the Ebola mutation was found to have spread through the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, intestines and brain tissues.“It is a sign that 3-week-old Syrian hamsters infected with VSV-EBOV/GP have the possibility of playing a role in the study of optic nerve disorders caused by EVD,” Hebei researchers wrote, noting the rapid onset of symptoms and systemic infections similar to that inflicted on human Ebola patients. The team concluded the experiment was a success because it will increase the speed of clinical countermeasures against Ebola in biosafety labs that have only a level 2. “The surrogate virus and matched hamster EVD [Ebola virus disease] model will improve the security and economy of the research in the EBOV field,” the study states. Rutgers University Chemical biologist Dr. Richard Ebright told the Daily Mail “it will be imperative to verify that the novel chimeric virus does not infect and replicate in human cells, and does not pose risk of infectivity, transmissibility, and pathogenicity in humans, before proceeding with studies at biosafety level 2.”The last major outbreak impacted West Africa and spread to Europe and North America from March 2014 to March 2016. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 28,616 cases of Ebola were detected and 11,310 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Chinese scientists have reportedly skirted biosafety rules and manufactured a mutant Ebola virus which killed eight out of 10 of a group of lab hamsters. Researchers state the goal of the study was to find a workable model for studying the spread of the Ebola virus in the future. The lethal virus is required by international regulation to be handled in biosafety labs with a level 4 (most labs are only a 2).In order to skirt the rules, the constructed virus was engineered with pieces of a contagious livestock disease (vesicular stomatitis virus) and an Ebola glycoprotein that allows the virus to infect and spread through the human body by a team of researchers at Hebei Medical University, the Daily Mail reported. The hamsters suffered horrific symptoms and “developed severe systemic diseases similar to those observed in human Ebola patients, including multi-organ failure,” and secretions in the eyes which ended up in severe scabs on their eyeballs, the study published in the Chinese journal Virologica Sinica reports.Researchers used five male and five female three-week-old Syrian hamsters. All five female hamsters exhibited multi-organ failure, decreased rectal temperature and lost 18% of their body mass. All five died within two to three days. Three of the five male hamsters lost 15% body mass and died within 3.5 days. Two of the male hamsters, however, survived and gained 20% body mass. After harvesting the dead hamsters’ organs, the Ebola mutation was found to have spread through the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, intestines and brain tissues.“It is a sign that 3-week-old Syrian hamsters infected with VSV-EBOV/GP have the possibility of playing a role in the study of optic nerve disorders caused by EVD,” Hebei researchers wrote, noting the rapid onset of symptoms and systemic infections similar to that inflicted on human Ebola patients. The team concluded the experiment was a success because it will increase the speed of clinical countermeasures against Ebola in biosafety labs that have only a level 2. “The surrogate virus and matched hamster EVD [Ebola virus disease] model will improve the security and economy of the research in the EBOV field,” the study states. Rutgers University Chemical biologist Dr. Richard Ebright told the Daily Mail “it will be imperative to verify that the novel chimeric virus does not infect and replicate in human cells, and does not pose risk of infectivity, transmissibility, and pathogenicity in humans, before proceeding with studies at biosafety level 2.”The last major outbreak impacted West Africa and spread to Europe and North America from March 2014 to March 2016. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 28,616 cases of Ebola were detected and 11,310 deaths reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
