Fatal COVID strain that Boston University claims to have created: All you need to know

A COVID strain with an 80% death rate is said to have been created by Boston University researchers.

A group of researchers from Florida and Boston carried out the study at the university’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. This lab, one of 13 in the US with a biosafety level 4 designation, is working on risky research projects like those using COVID and Ebola.

What happened in the Boston University laboratory?

?The researchers extracted the spike protein from the Omicron and genetically engineered it into the ancestral strain of coronavirus which was detected first in the wet market of Wuhan, China.

They documented how this hybrid, genetically modified strain reacted in mice.

How lethal is the new virus?

According to the researchers, the new strain has five times as many contagious virus particles as the Omicron version.

The virus hooks to the spike protein and enters human cells from there. The spike protein is becoming more potent with each successive variation, making it simpler for the virus to enter the host.

The discovery, according to the researchers, illuminates the pathogenic potential of the omicron.

This analysis demonstrates that a number of other proteins are involved in the pathogenicity of Omicron, not just the spike protein. According to the study author Mohsan Saeed, identification of such proteins will help develop better illness diagnostics and treatment plans.