by Theleaders-Online | January 25, 2020 7:46 am
Following the outbreak of a respiratory disease caused by a new coronavirus in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and the announcement[1] of the first American case on Jan. 21, several groups and individuals are circulating false rumors on Facebook about the mystery pathogen.
Numerous posts claim the virus has been patented — and some even suggest, incorrectly, that the virus was made in a lab and a vaccine already exists.
“The new fad disease called the ‘coronavirus’ is sweeping headlines,” one Facebook post[2], taken from[3] Twitter, reads. “Funny enough, there was a patent for the coronavirus was filed in 2015 and granted in 2018.”
Another, which was shared by others[4], and is part of a[5] series[6] of false coronavirus posts, proclaims[7] that the virus is “‘new’ yet it was lab created and patented in 2015 (in development since 03’).”
Yet another[8] proposes a similar conspiracy. “So.. patent on this ‘new’ Corona virus expired on the 22nd, today,” the post says. “We have a sudden outbreak. There’s magically already a vaccine available.”
In fact, there is no vaccine yet[9] available for the new coronavirus, which for now goes by[10] the unwieldy moniker of 2019 novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV. And there is no patent related to the new virus, either.
All of the posts link[11] to[12] patents that are related to two different viruses in the coronavirus family.
Coronaviruses are a group[13] of viruses that tend to cause respiratory illnesses in humans and a variety of other illnesses in animals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains on its website. The name comes[14] from the crown, or corona-like appearance of infective viruses when seen under a microscope.
One patent[15] is for a genetic sequence of the virus that causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, a disease that spread to dozens[16] of countries in 2003, sickening more than[17] 8,000 people and killing 774.
“The sequencing was done at the CDC during the SARS outbreak and they were the ones that filed the patent,” Matthew Frieman[18], a coronavirus researcher at the University of Maryland, explained in an email.
The CDC told[19] the Associated Press in 2003 that the agency was claiming ownership to ensure access, and to prevent others from controlling the technology. In a phone interview, Columbia law professor Harold Edgar[20] told us that following a U.S. Supreme Court case decided[21] in 2013, U.S. patent law no longer allows for patents on viral sequences as they exist in nature.
The other supposedly related patent[22] is for a mutated form of avian infectious bronchitis virus, or IBV[23], which infects poultry, but not people. The patent was filed by the Pirbright Institute[24], a research institute in the U.K. whose mission[25] is to prevent and control “viral diseases of livestock.” The mutations were created to attenuate, or weaken, the virus, so that it could be used as a vaccine to protect chickens from the disease.
“Neither of these has anything to do with the new 2019-nCoV virus,” said Frieman. “This is clearly a bogus theory that this virus was created in a lab, patented and has a vaccine already made to it.”
Researchers are still working to understand the origin, spread and severity of the latest coronavirus. The outbreak began in early December[26] in Wuhan[27], a city of around 11 million people in central China.
Evidence suggests the virus likely spilled over to humans from an as-yet-unidentified animal, as has happened in the past for other coronaviruses. The SARS virus, for instance, is thought to have come from bats[28], and then spread to humans through civets[29], a cat-like animal eaten as a delicacy[30] in Asia. The SARS virus then proved to be transmissible[31] from person to person.
A similar story played out in 2012 with the virus responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS[32], which may also have originated[33] in bats, and then spread to humans via camel[34].
Cases of the new respiratory illness were first[35] reported in people who had connections to a fish market in Wuhan that also sold[36] a variety of live animals. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci[37] told[38] Scientific American on Jan. 22 that the new virus “almost certainly” came from an animal.
It is now clear that the new coronavirus can also pass from person to person[39], although it is not known how easily it spreads. It’s possible the disease may not[40] be as severe as SARS, but health officials say it is too early to know for sure. Symptoms include[41] fever, cough and shortness of breath.
As of early Jan. 24[42], at least 26 people have died, all in China, out of nearly 900 confirmed cases worldwide. Deaths have primarily[43] occurred in older people or those who had other health conditions. Cases have also been reported[44] in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The U.S. patient had recently traveled from Wuhan and is in good condition, according to the CDC[45].
As for a vaccine, the CDC says it is already working[46] on one with the NIH, but that it is still early in the process. Fauci explained[47] in his Scientific American interview that the agency is partnering[48] with Moderna, a biotech company, to create a messenger RNA-based vaccine.
“We will likely have a candidate in early phase I trials for safety in about three months,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we will have a vaccine ready for use in three months; even in an emergency, that would take a year or more. But we’re already on it.”
So while efforts have begun to make a vaccine, in part thanks[49] to Chinese researchers who have already shared the sequence[50] of the new virus, it is not true that a vaccine already exists — just as claims that the virus previously had a patent and was manufactured in a lab are also false.
Source: FactCheck.org
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