Wednesday 1 April 2020
Many questions remain about the origin of this virus (Chokniti Khongchum)
Whatever the crisis, there is always a conspiracy theory and April Fool’s Day seems as good a time as any to think on this further. The more widespread the disaster, the crazier the theories become. Yet there is something about Covid-19 that makes me feel unsettled and there is plenty I cannot explain. Not the least of which is that if the virus was naturally occurring, why did it not appear before? I understand also that although initial reports suggested the problem arose from a Wuhan meat market, in fact the virus can be traced back to a time immediately before that. This is not necessarily all about eating infected meat.
To explain my thoughts, and to summarise my reading, I need to go back to September 2012, when a novel coronavirus was isolated from a patient in Saudi Arabia. The patient had died from an acute respiratory illness and renal failure. A sample from that patient made its way to the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg (Canada), whose Scientific Director was a Dr Frank Plummer, very well-known and respected in virology circles. He was working on a coronavirus vaccine.
The Radiotelevisione Italiana documentary on biological experiments with coronavirus
At the NML there also worked a number of respected international scientists. Two in particular seem to be widely cited when this story is discussed. One was a Dr XQ, a Chinese Canadian virologist, and the other her biologist husband Dr KC. Dr XQ was the head of the Vaccine Development and Antiviral Therapies Section in the Special Pathogens Program. It appears she made several journeys to Wuhan during 2017 and 2018. Wuhan is home for China’s first top-level virology research establishment, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which was opened in 2015. It is what is known as a biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) establishment.
BSL-4 is the top level of biosafety and its laboratories are used to study infectious agents or toxins that pose a high risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections and life-threatening disease for which no vaccine or therapy is available.
In November 2015, the Italian, state-owned media company, Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) reported that Chinese scientists were undertaking biological experiments on a SARS-connected virus, which was believed to be derived from bats and mice. By modifying surface proteins, a pulmonary supervirus was created and it was realised that it could affect man. The USA had also been involved in research of this nature and concluded, “our work suggests a potential risk of SARS-CoV re-emergence from viruses currently circulating in bat populations.” The USA has now stopped the funding of this research into making viruses more contagious. China has not.
In late November 2018, US Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese biologist with three vials labelled “Antibodies” in his luggage. The biologist said that a colleague in China had asked him to deliver vials to a researcher in the USA. It was believed that the vials may have contained viable virus for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Both are coronaviruses.
In March 2019, the NML shipped samples of the henipavirus family and Ebola to China. There may have been other shipments before this. Henipaviruses are naturally harboured by fruit bats. Some months later, on 5 July 2019, Dr XQ and her husband were escorted from NML. Their appointments were terminated, students reassigned, and the staff, students and faculty of the University of Manitoba were cautioned about travelling to China. The university also severed its ties with Dr XQ and her husband.
Dr Frank Plummer, who mysteriously died in Nairobi
On 28 January 2020, a Harvard University professor, Dr CL, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, along with two Chinese nationals (YY and ZZ), were charged by the US Department of Justice with aiding the People’s Republic of China. ZZ had been arrested at Boston’s Logan International Airport with attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research to China.
Meanwhile, on 4 February 2020, Dr Frank Plummer, the Scientific Director of Winnipeg’s NML, was at a scientific meeting in Kenya, and unfortunately died. It is said that he collapsed and was taken to a hospital in Nairobi but was pronounced dead on arrival. He was aged 67 years and was not a healthy man. Some claim he was assassinated but his actual cause of death is unknown.
I have no idea what any of this means, other than there are questions to answer and I cannot quite connect the events. What seems clear is that vials of virus were passing merrily between China, the USA and Canada for at least several years. Consequently, might human error at any point be blamed for what is taking place around us?
American lawyer Larry Klayman needs no persuading, He has already filed a US$20 trillion lawsuit against the Chinese government and when interviewed by the Sunday Guardian said, “The only bioweapons laboratory in China is in Wuhan. Two plus two equals four.” Once we are through this, and assuming we make it to the other side, the next few years will be interesting.
India is also looking further into the WIV. Indian scientists reported that the Wuhan coronavirus had been engineered with AIDS-like insertions. They described this as, “unlikely to be fortuitous in nature.” They subsequently withdrew their preprint report by saying, “It was not our intention to feed into the conspiracy theories…we appreciate the criticisms…and will get back with a revised version.” I look forward to seeing that revision but there is no question that the origin of this disease is shrouded in mystery.
Larry Klayman, the lawyer who has launched a US$20 trillion case against China
Meanwhile back at UK base, the lack of PPE for healthcare staff continues to be a problem and one of the commonest questions put to politicians by journalists. It seems that staff are being muzzled and reminded not to speak about the matter. An anonymous surgeon was interviewed by Medscape Medical News, and said, “It’s very clear; no one is allowed to speak for the institution or of the institution. We get a daily warning about being very prudent about posts on personal accounts.”
Apparently a GP has been barred from working in a community hospital in Ludlow after commenting on the lack of equipment and the President of the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, was reported as saying, “Many have told us they have tried to raise concerns through the proper channels but have been warned against taking these concerns further. At this time when we desperately need every single doctor on the frontline, some have had their careers threatened, and at least two doctors have been sent home from work. This is unacceptable.”
Dr Batt-Rawden has a point.
