Boston University have developed a new lethal Covid mutant strain in a laboratory
Researchers added Omicron's spike protein to the original Wuhan Covid strain
Omicron's spike is highly mutated which made it the most infectious variant ever
Eight in 10 mice infected with the lab-created strain died at Boston University lab
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... -rate.htmlThe scientists also infected human cells with the hybrid variant and found it was five times more infectious than Omicron.
This suggests the man-made virus might be the most contagious form yet.
It will no doubt surprise many Americans that such experiments continue to go on in the US despite concerns similar studies may have led to the global Covid outbreak.
Covid first began spreading from a wet market in Wuhan, China, about eight miles from a similar high-security virology laboratory that manipulated bat coronaviruses.
So-called gain-of-function research involved tinkering with viruses to make them more lethal or infectious - with the hopes of getting ahead of a future outbreak.
In the new research, which has not been peer-reviewed, a team of researchers from Boston and Florida extracted Omicron's spike protein — the unique structure that binds to and invades human cells.
It has always been present in the virus but has become more evolved over time. Omicron has dozens of mutations on its spike protein that made it so infectious.
Researchers attached Omicron's spike to the original wildtype strain that first emerged in Wuhan at the start of the pandemic.
