Chinese Scientists Engineering Is Part Of The Ebola Virus, Kills Hamster Group

Illustration of researchers in the laboratory (photo: x @porqueTTarg)

A group of scientists at Hebei Medical University, China, have engineered a virus containing parts of Ebola in a laboratory that killed a group of hamsters.

The researchers used infectious diseases in livestock and added proteins found in Ebola, which allows the virus to infect cells and spread throughout the human body.

According to the study, the hamster who received the lethal injection 'expanded severe systemic disease similar to that observed in human Ebola patients,' including multi-organ failure.

One of the terrible symptoms that can be seen is the infected hamsters developing secretions in their eyes, which interfere with vision and cover the surface of the eye.

While these experiments may trigger fears of other laboratory leaks, the researchers say their goal is to find the right animal model that can safely mimic Ebola symptoms in the laboratory.

This study suggests that infected hamsters can be a viable model for studying future Ebola spread and treatment.

Ebola must be handled at the Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facility which is a special high-security laboratory, while many are only BLS-2.

To work in a lower security environment, scientists use a different virus called vesicular stomatics virus (VSV), which they engineered to bring part of an Ebola virus called glycoprotein (GP) that plays an important role in helping the virus enter and infect its host cells.

The team studied five female hamsters and five male hamsters who were all three weeks old.

All female hamsters showed a reduction in rectal temperature and a loss of up to 18 percent - all dead between two and three days.

Five male hamsters lost 15 percent weight and surrendered to the disease no more than three and a half days. However, two male hamsters survived and gained weight by 20 percent more than before infection.

The team harvests organs from dead animals, finds viruses collected in the heart, liver, runoff, lungs, kidneys, stomach, intestines, and brain tissue. The highest levels are found in the liver and the lowest in the brain.

"This is a sign that the 3-week-old Syrian hamster infected with VSV-EBOV/GP has the possibility of playing a role in the study of optical nerve disorders caused by EVD," said a team of researchers who published research results in China's journal Virologicala Sinica.

The team concluded that the infected hamsters showed symptoms of rapid, heart shock, systemic infection, and developed severe systemic diseases similar to those observed in human EBOV patients.

They also note that this experiment provides a rapid preclinical evaluation of medical countermeasures against Ebola under the condition of BLS-2, concluding that the study was successful.

Experts have confirmed that respiratory viruses that spread through coughing and sneezing are more likely to spread widely through the population.

Data released in March reveals that laboratory leak incidents occur every year and include the release of controlled pathogens such as tuberculosis and anti-extraction.

However, Dr. Richard Ebright, a chemical biologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that it was impossible for a laboratory leak involving VSV to cause widespread infection in the community.

'This will be very important to verify that this new chimera virus does not infect and replicate in human cells, and does not pose a risk of infectivity, transmissibility, and pathogenicity in humans, before proceeding with studies at the biological safety level 2,' Ebright was quoted as saying by VOI from DailyMail.com.