Scientists in China have developed a virus using elements of Ebola for research purposes at Hebei Medical University, involved injecting hamsters with the engineered virus.
According to the research published at Science Direct, within three days, the injected hamsters died, exhibiting symptoms similar to those observed in human Ebola patients, including multi-organ failure.
How Did The Experiment Go?
As per the report, the researchers used a protein found in Ebola to modify a livestock disease, making it capable of infecting cells and spreading throughout the body.
The hamsters that were injected developed a symptom of secretions from their eyeballs that led to vision impairment and covered the surfaced of the eyeballs.
The Chinese researchers in the report stated, "It is a sign that 3-week-old Syrian hamsters infected with the virus have the possibility of playing a role in the study of optic nerve disorders caused by EVD."
Measurements For Safety
A similar lab research of engineered virus led to a pandemic at the time of Covid-19. The researchers this time aimed to look for the appropriate animal models to mimic the Ebola symptoms in the lab setting.
While a virus such as Ebola requires highly secure Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) facilities, most laboratories worldwide operate at the BSL-2 level.
To mimic Ebola symptoms safely in a lab, the team utilized a less secure facility by engineering a different virus, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), to carry a component of Ebola called glycoprotein which plays an important role to enter and infect cells of its host.
The study involved ten hamsters equally divided in genders, and upon examination of their organs post-mortem, the virus was found in various tissues including the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, stomach, intestines, and brain.
Researchers concluded that the experiment successfully provided a rapid preclinical evaluation of medical countermeasures against Ebola.
The last major Ebola outbreak occurred from 2014 to 2016 in several West African countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
