Chinese Scientists Engineer Mutant Ebola Virus with Horrific Symptoms

Chinese scientists have successfully created a mutant Ebola virus in a lab setting that causes horrific symptoms. The experiment conducted at Hebei Medical University involved injecting a group of hamsters with the deadly virus, resulting in severe systemic diseases similar to those observed in human Ebola patients. The study revealed that the engineered virus led to multi-organ failure and even impaired vision in some hamsters, highlighting the potential for studying optic nerve disorders caused by Ebola Virus Disease. The researchers used a livestock disease combined with a protein from Ebola to create the mutant virus, which was able to infect and spread throughout the hamsters' bodies. By utilizing a modified vesicular stomatitis virus carrying part of the Ebola virus, the scientists were able to mimic Ebola symptoms in a BSL-2 facility, providing a valuable preclinical evaluation of medical countermeasures against the virus. This groundbreaking research opens up new possibilities for studying and combating Ebola in a controlled laboratory environment.