Republican lawmakers question Boston University on research creating new COVID-19 strain
Fox News
Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to Boston University President Robert Brown requesting information about recent COVID-19 research at the school.
They created a hybrid by fusing the spike protein from the omicron variant to the original strain, then infected mice with the omicron variant, the original strain, and the new hybrid version. Paul Best is a breaking news reporter for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to Paul.Best@fox.com and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.
None of the mice were killed by the omicron variant, but 80% died from the new hybrid strain, and all the mice died from the original virus.
"In K18-hACE2 mice, while Omicron causes mild, non-fatal infection, the Omicron S-carrying virus inflicts severe disease with a mortality rate of 80%," the researchers wrote in the study, which has not been peer reviewed.