Resurrection of the virus

Viruses from the laboratory: is it dangerous?

Julia Bondar, Copper News

A group of scientists from the University of Alberta in Canada conducted a rather risky experiment, as a result of which they were able to resurrect an extinct species of equine pox virus that is not dangerous to humans. It turned out to be relatively simple and cheap and caused a predictable panic attack among ordinary people.

Equine pox viruses are relatives of smallpox, which claimed about half a million lives in the last century, although it has been known to mankind for thousands of years. It took scientists centuries and a lot of money and effort to defeat the smallpox virus. By a Canadian scientist led by virologist David Evans It was possible to restore the virus by genetic engineering methods for just $100,000 (How Canadian researchers reconstructed an extinct poxvirus for $100,000 using mail-order DNA). To recreate the virus, scientists used sources that were delivered by regular mail. The team acquired overlapping DNA fragments, each with about 30,000 base pairs, from Geneart (Regensburg, Germany), which synthesizes DNA on a commercial basis. This allowed them to stitch the virus genome into 212,000 base pairs. The virus was injected into cells already infected with another poxvirus, and they began to produce particles of the equine pox virus. The virus was then grown, sequenced and characterized, and had a predicted genome sequence. This technology was described back in 2002 in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but it was used for the first time.

The genie released from the bottle

Horse pox is safe for humans, is not a serious threat to agriculture and is also considered extinct. However, the success of Evans and his group excited his colleagues. "If it can be done with horse pox, then there is no doubt it can be done with human pox," said virologist Gerd Sutter from Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany (Ludwig–Maximilians-Universität München, LMU). WHO has already called the experiment of Canadian scientists "a genie released from the bottle." According to experts, terrorists or rogue states can take advantage of the possibilities of biotechnology. This work provoked renewed debate about whether the last two known living specimens of Variola (Variola vera, or smallpox) should be destroyed. In 1979, the World Health Organization officially announced the victory over this terrible disease by global vaccination. At the same time, an agreement was reached to destroy all remaining virus samples with the exception of two, which were transferred to secret and securely guarded laboratories in the United States and Russia (to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and to the Russian Research Institute of Viral Drugs in Moscow). The Russian samples were later transferred to the State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk (in the village of Koltsovo). Some scientists believe that studying this virus will help the world prepare for future outbreaks.

Genie or fairy godmother?

However, Evans' research is not only a genie released from a bottle: according to the scientist himself, his experiment also has scientific value. Working out the technology of creating viruses, scientists expect to create effective vaccines against various diseases, learn how to manage viruses and, possibly, develop an effective cure for cancer. The New York-based pharmaceutical company Tonix, with which Evans collaborated, hopes to use the equine virus to improve the human smallpox vaccine. The existing vaccine causes serious side effects in some people. According to Evans, the synthesis of poxvirus, for example, can help in the development of viruses that can kill tumors. The scientist believes that, of course, it is always necessary to remember about the "dual purpose" of such studies, but at the same time it is necessary to "use the incredible power of this approach" in the fight against dangerous diseases.

Laboratory infestations: stories of genies released from bottles

Research on contagious diseases has always been dangerous and sometimes ended tragically

• The first cases of intra-laboratory infection with typhoid fever were noted in 1885, a report about them was published by K. Kisskalt (1915). In subsequent years, the number of reported cases of infection in laboratories increased, which is explained by the expansion of research with pathogenic microorganisms in many countries of the world. By 1950, the number of documented laboratory infections had reached 6,000.

• Plague fort "Emperor Alexander I". Two outbreaks of the plague are widely known in the fort "Emperor Alexander I" in Kronstadt, which was used as a laboratory for this disease. Despite strict control and all the security measures taken, in the "plague fort" in 1904, Dr. V. I. Turchinovich-Vyzhnikevich died and fell ill, but paramedic S. Poplavsky was cured, and in 1907, Dr. Manuel Fedorovich Schreiber died and fell ill, but Dr. L. V. was cured. Padlevsky

• The first disaster in Marburg. An officially registered outbreak of the disease caused by this virus occurred in 1967 in the city of Marburg in Germany at one of the pharmaceutical enterprises. The caretaker who took care of the animals died two weeks after he noticed symptoms of a mysterious disease in green monkeys brought to Bering's laboratory from Central Africa. The vaccine was grown in the laboratory using the kidney cells of these monkeys. Very soon, the rest of the lab workers also got sick. Similar cases were noted in the Bering laboratories in Frankfurt and Belgrade, where green monkeys from the same batch were imported. Twenty-four people working in the laboratory became victims of some unknown disease, and later six nurses who took care of them fell ill. Seven people out of all those infected died.

• In 1976, there was an intra-laboratory infection with the Ebola virus in the UK, as a result of an injection with an infected needle.

• Laboratory "Vector". In 1988, the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology ("Vector"), Koltsovo, an employee was infected with Marburg fever when pierced with a needle. The sick employee, Nikolai Ustinov, died.

• The second case of intra-laboratory infection in the "Vector". In 1990, laboratory employee Sergey Viazunov became infected with the Marburg virus. Presumably, the infection occurred through the eyes. Viazunov

• Intra-laboratory infection with the Ebola virus in Ivory Coast. The scientist became ill after performing an autopsy of a wild chimpanzee. The patient was treated in Switzerland and recovered.

• 48 Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: In 1996, a laboratory assistant at the virology center died Research Institute of Microbiology of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in Sergiev Posad, who became infected with the Ebola virus by inadvertently pricking her finger while injecting guinea pigs.

• Fort Detrick, Maryland (USA): In 2004, an employee of the laboratory was infected with the Marburg virus – also due to a needle puncture. In this case, the patient recovered 

• Vector again. On May 19, 2004, Antonina Presnyakova, a 46-year-old senior laboratory assistant at the Department of Particularly Dangerous Viral Infections of the Research Institute of Molecular Biology of the State Scientific Center for Virology and Biotechnology "Vector" (Koltsovo village, Novosibirsk region), died of Ebola. As it was established, on May 5, 2004, a laboratory assistant pierced her skin while giving injections to guinea pigs.

• In March 2004, an intra-laboratory infection with typhoid fever occurred in the laboratory at the clinic of the Samara Military Medical Institute.

The main part of accidents, as we see, is due to the carelessness of researchers who violate safety regulations: punctures with infected needles, cuts during the autopsy of laboratory animals. The second reason is an aerosol, a suspension of feces and skin particles of laboratory animals containing viruses. 

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  12.07.2017