Chinese Scientists Engineer Mutant Ebola Virus in Controversial Experiment, Causing Severe Symptoms and Deaths in Lab Hamsters
A team of Chinese researchers has created a mutant strain of the Ebola virus that bypasses higher biosafety regulations, leading to the death of a test group of hamsters, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The study, recently published in Virologica Sinica, aimed to establish a surrogate model for human Ebola virus disease that could be handled in lower Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) facilities, typically less stringent than the Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) required for handling wild-type Ebola. This less restrictive environment is intended to facilitate easier and more frequent research, including vaccine development.
In this experiment led by Wanying Yang and colleagues from the Changchun Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
