Despite the fact that many existing viruses have not yet been completely defeated, there are still those with which mankind has managed to cope. The smallpox virus is one such virus, but a group of researchers from the University of Alberta recently recreated the dangerous virus. According to Sciencealert, this will help with further research and the fight against other serious pathogens. However, not all of the scientific community shares this point of view, and some see this as a huge biological threat.
It is worth recalling that the WHO (World Health Organization) announced the victory over smallpox in 1979 through the global vaccination of the population. In the same years, it was decided to destroy all samples of the virus at the disposal of laboratories. However, according to the publication, two Canadian biologists David Evans and Ryan Noyce in the laboratory created smallpox virus samples by manipulating viral RNA and using chemically synthesized DNA. Scientists immediately warned that we were talking about horsepox, but further research showed that under certain conditions, the virus can be dangerous to humans.
Many scientists believe that the reconstruction of a dangerous virus could lead to the emergence of new biological weapons and even a pandemic. But, as the authors of the work claim, their research shows that the methods of editing and using synthetic DNA can be used in the pharmaceutical industry in order to create drugs of a new type, in particular in the so-called killer viruses that will be able to destroy pathogenic cells and bacteria without affecting while healthy tissue.
Vladimir Kuznetsov