ChemAg15 said:
eric76 said:
ChemAg15 said:
Serious question. I realize this is the covid board and not F16.
I think it's generally accepted that covid-19 did not occur naturally, meaning it came from a lab. Assuming the original virus came from a lab, what would keep a government from inventing new variants of Covid to keep the pandemic going longer if they felt it suited their purposes? Would virologists be able to tell that the virus was not mutating naturally? Would altering the virus leave behind some kind of fingerprint that would indicate it was unnatural? Is it possible to intentionally alter the virus so that it targets a different demographic than the original variant? Does this technology exist today to accomplish this?
Generally accepted? Maybe by some parts of the population. Particularly those prone to conspiracy theories.
I think that it may have escaped from a lab because of errors in protocols, but the virus itself is a zoonosis that almost surely came from bats.
I'm confused. Since you think it came from a lab does that make you a conspiracy theorist too? Thanks for the non answer.
It is common for labs to have samples on hand of whatever they are studying. That does not mean that they have modified those samples in any manner.
The procedures/processes at the labs should be such that the samples don't escape, but with human error and/or defective equipment and processes, that can happen.
What we don't have is an indication that the virus was modified.
By the way, did you know that another coronavirus has been identified that was affecting kids in Haiti.
From ProMed mailing list:
Quote:
"We found a coronavirus," he says. And not just any coronavirus, but
one that many scientists believe may be a new human pathogen -- likely
the 8th coronavirus known to cause disease in people. It turns out,
this coronavirus in the Haiti travelers has cropped up previously, on
the other side of the globe.
Please tell me how many virus research labs there are in Haiti?
A nearly identical coronavirus has also been identified in Malaysia from samples taken during the same time period. Are virus labs a big thing in Malaysia, too?
The point is that viruses and other pathogens being studied in labs should not escape. However, when they do escape, that doesn't mean that they were created in the labs.
The paranoid conspiracy theories are about the labs creating the viruses.
