Canadian scientist 'revives' the extinct virus that once killed 500 million people

It can revive a deadly epidemic of disease, while drawing lines for the development of biological weapons.

Last week, Science magazine reported that a group of Canadian scientists synthesized a strain of artificial smallpox virus . In case you find alien to smallpox, this disease does not belong to the era of people born after 1980.

Smallpox is an infectious disease that causes one of the four most terrible pandemics in history. In the 20th century, it killed 500 million people, before being declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1979.

By synthesizing a strain of artificial smallpox virus, scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada are raising a concern. Will this deadly disease be revived, and studies that artificially synthesize artificial viruses are just a cover for developing biological weapons?

Canadian scientist successfully synthesized smallpox virus, threatening a deadly epidemic.

First of all, the horsepox , the horsepox virus strain that the University of Alberta created, is benign. Although the worst scenario occurs, when synthetic horsepox escape outside the laboratory, they cannot threaten human health.

But that's just the tip of the story.

Viruses synthesized by rearranging gene sequences are not a new way of research. Since 2002, British scientists have synthesized the first artificial virus, a form of polio. They tested it by injecting the virus into the mouse.

The mice in the subsequent experiment were killed by the virus. Since then, debates have begun to emerge that someone can synthesize a killer virus , then turn it into a biological weapon .

At that time, some researchers supported the development of synthetic viruses saying that people should not be too worried. Virus synthesis is very difficult and expensive, only a few people and labs can do it.

But 15 years have passed since then. New research by the University of Alberta has now completely changed those subjective thoughts. It is like an alarm bell, telling us that this is no longer a time to overlook the problem of virus synthesis.

With a low cost of $ 100,000, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Alberta was able to lead his team, synthesizing artificial horsepox viruses.

'This is an example of what modern technology can do , ' warns Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US Institute of Infectious Diseases and Allergies. Reducing costs, simplifying processes and finding ways to create more and more synthetic viruses is only a matter of time.

Reducing costs, simplifying processes and finding ways to create more and more synthetic viruses is only a matter of time.

David Evans is a scientist leading the research team at the University of Alberta, he is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO). Evans's research is not bad.

In an interview with STAT, he said that he had mentioned many times that smallpox virus would soon be synthesized very easily before:

'Actually, no one in this field is surprised about it [that we can synthesize artificial smallpox virus at a low cost]. We have been saying this to WHO for many years. This technology is very feasible '.

Evans's position is inclined to support viral synthesis studies, because they can serve many medical benefits.

For example, Evans's big goal is to develop a cancer vaccine, based on a relative virus with smallpox. The study of horsepox synthesis this time is a stepping stone to the development of viruses for cancer vaccines.

On a side note, the horsepox viruses Evans synthesized were also ordered from Tonix, a US pharmaceutical company. They are intending to develop a better anti-smallpox vaccine. Tonix funded research for Professor Evans.

But here, there is a suspicion that: Smallpox has been wiped out for nearly four decades, why would Tonix want to develop a vaccine when we don't need vaccination to prevent smallpox?

The fact that they ordered a study in Canada and not the United States had its reasons. By simplicity, if a study synthesizes viruses in the United States, it is unlikely to be approved.

Dr. Fauci said the virus synthesis study is classified into the DURC (dual use research of concern) category. Simply put, it could be dangerous projects that are harmless research. In the case of synthetic viruses, it can completely disguise biological weapons carrying dangerous pathogens.

In 2011, a Dutch scientist used US government funding to transform the H5N1 bird flu virus. The end result was a strain of virus that went beyond the scope of infection in poultry to spread the disease through ferrets. At this stage, the virus is almost able to infect humans and the risk is particularly dangerous.

Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, vehemently criticized the 2011 study. When asked about his views on Evans's new work, he pointed out a scenario that is not well known. .

According to Professor Lipsitch, Professor Evans' research itself has no problem. But his publication of it, including how to synthesize cheap smallpox viruses into a scientific journal, is partly 'drawing the way for the deer to run'.

Many people can use knowledge from this research for bad purposes. Besides, even if true scientists are aware of what they do, many mistakes can happen, mistakes they cannot imagine.

Research on synthetic viruses can completely disguise the construction of biological weapons.

In fact, Professor Evans's work has not yet been published. It was rejected by the world's two most prestigious scientific journals. The reason for this work is that the DURC group can cause many dangers, related to laws and international conventions.

Evans' study could become a guide to creating dangerous pathogens. Therefore, he admitted that he struggled to choose what information to publish.

'I don't want to give too detailed instructions on how to do this,' he said when referring to the synthesis of a smallpox virus strain. Assuming a person with knowledge in the field of research, they can only take half a year and $ 100,000 to repeat the experiment, even replicating it to dangerous virus strains.

Until now, Professor Lipsitch is still quite assured of Professor Evans's work and attitude. At least the horsepox has not flown from the lab, and it does not pose too great a risk.

However, Evans' work proved the fact that viruses can now be synthesized very easily and very cheaply. Many people were able to do that, like Professor Evans with a private funding, not under government control.

So, in the future, what will the story be if research into virus synthesis is not done by someone who is as responsible as Professor Evans? At the same time, the virus they created is not as harmless as horsepox? That's something even scientists can't predict.