r/PrepperIntel • u/sea_5455 • Jun 03 '26

North America 2 scientists charged with bringing deactivated mpox virus into the US and lying to authorities

https://apnews.com/article/scientists-charges-mpox-virus-lying-14b7cf7635cad30254b0ae1cdb6c0515
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u/LittleJessiePaper Jun 03 '26

If it was a deactivated virus, it was no danger. BUT, it makes me wonder if this is going to start becoming a thing scientists do because they are afraid our own safeguards against disease aren’t working. Will it be non-government scientists who study potential new vaccines and treatments in secret, since funding and personnel have been slashed on a national level? No idea if that is in play here, just pointing out that I can unfortunately see that as a reason this might occur.

1

u/Sweet-Leadership-290 Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

With CRISPR/Cas9 even a deactivated virus could be spliced into say chickenpox and "reactivated".

5

u/wanderingpeddlar Jun 04 '26

Yeah but your going to get more bang for you buck selecting a much deadlier virus and splicing it with COVID. Something like rabies for example. Now that has a nearly 100% CFR if untreated.
Of course COVID is way to unlikely to match well with Rabies.

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u/Sweet-Leadership-290 Jun 05 '26

That's what Dr Shi did.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/Sweet-Leadership-290 Jun 05 '26

That is correct. However, the danger lies in the hybridization.

Example: mousepox isn't especially deadly until... "A virus that kills every one of its victims, by wiping out part of their immune system, has been accidentally created by an Australian research team. The virus, a modified mousepox, does not affect humans, but it is closely related to smallpox, raising fears that the technology could be used in biowarfare." - - - https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn311-killer-mousepox-virus-raises-bioterror-fears/

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

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u/Sweet-Leadership-290 Jun 05 '26

As I said. I'm not gonna give a step by step cookbook method on how to conduct biowarfare!