Wuhan Institute of Virology Publishes New “Gain of Function” Study Featuring Avian Flu Virus

Wuhan Institute of Virology Publishes New “Gain of Function” Study Featuring Avian Flu Virus

After spending two years dealing with a coronavirus pandemic, it is disturbing to have to share reports of several incidents related to avian flu viruses.

Perhaps the most chilling involves the H7N9 virus, also known as the Asian lineage avian influenza A. The first reported human infection of this strain was in China in 2013. The reports drew the concern of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Risk Assessment program.

Before 2013, this strain hadn’t been seen in any other population except birds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source.

In the five years after the disease was found in humans, health officials have battled multiple outbreaks.

However, one good piece of news is that the virus doesn’t infect humans very easily. Most bird flu infections are transmitted between birds and only spread to humans who have close contact with the animals.

“Most of the human infections (found in China and Asian countries) occurred in people who had close contact with poultry, either raising them or seeking them in an open market environment,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

…However, scientists at the CDCTrusted Source using the Influenza Risk Assessment Tool have identified the Asian lineage H7N9 virus as “having the greatest potential to cause a pandemic as well as potentially posing the greatest risk to severely impact public health if it were to achieve sustained human to human transmission.”

Although there’s potential for a pandemic, in its current form it’s unlikely. Horovitz believed “human-to-human transmission of this virus hasn’t been demonstrated, so the potential for a pandemic isn’t high.”

The likelihood of the virus remaining hard to transmit to humans might remain low unless the scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology decided to add a few “gain of function” enhancements to H7N9.

Which, it appears, they have. The team there has just published a paper (hat-tip National Pulse): Combined insertion of basic and non-basic amino acids at the hemagglutinin cleavage site of highly pathogenic H7N9 virus promotes replication and pathogenicity in chickens and mice.

The paper was published in Virologica Sinica, the journal put out by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Its editor-in-chief is Zheng-Li Shi. That name should be familiar to those of you who have been following the covid story, as she is the infamous “Bad Lady” of Wuhan.

2015 – 2017: Shi Zheng-li (“Bat Lady” researcher leading the studies of bat viruses), Peter Daszak (head of the NIH grant-getting the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance), and a team of scientists isolate novel coronaviruses, conduct gain-on-function research, and test novel and genetically manipulated coronaviruses against mice and other animals expressing human immune systems.

A line from the abstract is most chilling:

…the I335V substitution of H7N9 virus enhanced infectivity and transmission in chickens, suggesting that the combination of mutations and insertions of amino acids at the HACS promoted replication and pathogenicity in chickens and mice. The ongoing evolution of H7N9 increasingly threatens public health and poultry industry, so, its comprehensive surveillance and prevention of H7N9 viruses should be pursued.

So, the same institute that likely created the SARS-Cov-2 Virus by modifying bat viruses has now modified the Asian lineage avian influenza A virus to be more readily transmissible and substantially more lethal. The report indicated the altered pathogen killed 35% of the mice population studied.

And while the researchers claim all of this experimenting is in the name of “pandemic prevention,” the same claims were made about SARC-COV-2. I am not mollified or consoled.

Meanwhile, another avian influenza is decimating poultry populations around the world…at a time when food scarcity is becoming a significant issue.

The virus, known as the Eurasian H5N1 avian influenza, began tearing through Europe, Asia, and Africa in late 2021 and is still raging, with Europe experiencing its worst bird flu outbreak on record. It was first detected in the US in January and has since spread to at least 32 states, resulting in the death of more than 36 million chickens and turkeys and triggering a spike in egg prices.

While the virus has a near 100 percent mortality rate among infected poultry — and can spread rapidly among birds, especially in packed industrial farming conditions — it’s currently believed to pose little threat to human beings. It only rarely spills over to people, and only to those who come into close contact with infected birds. Even when there are human infections, “the viruses are unable to efficiently transmit between humans,” notes Michelle Wille, a virus ecologist at the University of Sydney.

Question: Has the Wuhan Institute of Virology ever studied H5N1? Answer: Yes.

The highest level biosafety installation is necessary because the Institute investigated highly dangerous viruses, such as SARS, influenza H5N1, Japanese encephalitis, and dengue, along with germ causing anthrax.

I cannot say what the Chinese researcher was doing with it. But I sure would like to find out.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.