| It would be an improbable
coincidence for all the following events to occur without
a causal link:
- Scientists
declare their plan to introduce a highly specific mutation (insertion of a proteolytic cleavage site able to
interact with furin, an enzyme expressed in human cells) into a
particular type of virus (bat coronaviruses). The following year, a virus with
the specified properties is discovered outside the confines of the
laboratory.
- The same
researchers express their intention to engineer the virus for enhanced
transmissibility to humans. The following year, the spread of a new virus
results in a pandemic of a magnitude seen about once per century.
- The proposed
location for this experiment is the city of Wuhan. The first cases of the
infection emerge in the same city.
|