O Covid-19 é potencialmente uma "ameaça
existencial" para a humanidade. Daí o apelo do Dr. Yuhong Dong, da
Universidade de Pequim: "É imperativo que cientistas, médicos e pessoas de
todo o mundo, incluindo governos e autoridades de saúde pública, façam todos os
esforços para investigar esse vírus misterioso e suspeito, a fim de elucidar
sua origem e para proteger o futuro da raça humana".
O Covid-19, sua origem, suas características inéditas
e também o seu inédito nível de ameaça são objecto de um detalhado e sustentado
relatório de Shah Gilani que agora aqui registamos.
Shah Gilani é um consultor de investimento que, pela
qualidade da sua informação e pela agudeza do seu olhar, tem sido uma das
nossas "fontes bem informadas". O que ele acaba de nos transmitir
sobre o novo vírus da China, o agora chamado Covid-19, é demasiado grave para
que o guardemos apenas para nós.
COVID-19: O que a China esconde é realmente assustador
Mar 9th, 2020 | By Shah Gilani
Se o novo coronavírus, COVID-19, não é tão contagioso
quanto os vírus da gripe, por que a China fechou Wuhan, uma enorme cidade
industrial e colocou em quarentena 46 milhões de pessoas?
O que não sabemos sobre este vírus?
O que é que está a deixar os governos mundiais
realmente assustados?
Este relatório de Shah Gilani responde a essas perguntas ...
Mar 9th, 2020 | By Shah Gilani
If the novel (new) coronavirus, COVID-19, isn’t nearly
as contagious as influenza viruses are, why did China shut down Wuhan, a huge
manufacturing city, and quarantine 46 million people?
What don’t we know about the virus?
What are world governments really frightened about?
This report answers those questions.
The Origin of the Virus
At this point in the brief history of the new
coronavirus, designated COVID-19 by the WHO, all scientists seem to agree that
the virus originated in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, based on where the first
recognized infections were diagnosed.
Researchers haven’t been able to definitively
determine the origin of the new virus.
Or have they?
COVID-19 appears, for the most part, as a zoonotic
coronavirus, which is a virus that’s transmuted from infecting animals to
infecting humans.
The SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)
betacoronavirus, which emerged in Guangdong province, China in 2002, is a
zoonotic coronavirus that originated in bats, which likely infected civet cats,
and transmuted to infect humans.
Based on its genomic structure, COVID-19, also a betacoronavirus,
a single-stranded RNA virus of zoonotic origin, comes from bats.
However, scientists discovered disturbing anomalies in
the long strand of the new virus’s RNA.
Dr. Yuhong Dong, who holds a doctorate in infectious
diseases from Beijing University wrote in the Epoch Times, “based on recently
published scientific papers, this new coronavirus has unprecedented virologic
features that suggest genetic engineering may have been involved in its
creation.” He added, “The virus presents with severe clinical features; thus,
it poses a huge threat to humans.”
Studying the virus’ phylogenetic tree, its full genome
sequence, Dr. James Lyons-Weiler, founder and CEO of the Institute for Pure and
Applied Knowledge, IPAK, identified a long unique sequence of 1,378 nucleotide
base pairs not found in other coronaviruses. According to Dr. Lyons-Weiler, the
“novel sequence” lacks homology (similarity due to shared ancestry between a
pair of structures, or genes) between similar bat coronaviruses. He says the
inserted sequences should not be there.
Dr. Lyons-Weiler points to the presence of a
SARS-binding protein sequence in the new coronavirus that allows it to easily
infect human cells.
He explains, “Despite considerable genetics distance
between the Wuhan CoV and the human-infecting SARS-CoV, and the overall low
homology of the Wuhan CoV S-protein to that of SARS-CoV, the Wuhan CoV
S-protein had several patches of sequences in the receptor binding (RBD) domain
with a high homology to that of SARS-CoV. The residues at positions 442, 472,
479, 487, and 491 in SARS-CoV S-protein were reported to be at receptor complex
interface and considered critical for cross-species and human-to-human
transmission of SARS-CoV. So, to our surprise, despite replacing four out of five
important interface amino acid residues, the Wuhan CoV S-protein was found to
have a significant binding affinity to human ACE2. The Wuhan CoV S-protein and SARS-CoV S-protein shared an almost
identical 3-D structure in the RBD domain, thus maintaining similar van der
Waals and electrostatic properties in the interaction interface. Thus the
Wuhan CoV is still able to pose a significant public health risk for human
transmission via the S protein-ACE2 binding pathway.”
Dr. Yuhong Dong of Beijing University asks, “How could
this novel virus be so intelligent as to mutate precisely at selected sites
while preserving its binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor? How did the
virus change just four amino acids of the S-protein? Did the virus know how to
use Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) to make
sure this would happen?”
A study by researchers at the University of Texas at
Austin also found the novel coronavirus and SARS share the same functional
host-cell receptor, called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). They warn,
“The deadly new coronavirus is
up to 20 times more likely to bind to human cell receptors and cause infection
than severe acute respiratory syndrome.”
The report, published on the website bioRxiv, said the
new coronavirus “had around 10 to 20-fold higher affinity – the degree to which
a substance tends to combine with another – for human ACE2 compared with SARS.”
The researchers added that further studies were needed to explore the human
host-cell receptor’s role in helping the new virus to spread from person to
person.
One theory surrounding the novel coronavirus’s
extraordinary ability to bind to host receptors is that it was engineered to do
just that.
Chinese scientists have been working on a SARS
vaccine. It’s possible they engineered the RNA of their vaccine to make it more
receptive to humans.
The engineered “binding” sequence is similar to the
pShuttle-Sn recombination vector abs INS1378 patented by the Chinese, using it
to develop an immunogenic vaccine against SARS.
According to the patent filing (translated from
Chinese), The present invention belongs gp120to the field of genetic
engineering, particularly relates to adenoviral vector SARS vaccines, their
preparation and coronavirus S genes in SARS (SARS) on vaccines for the
prophylaxis. By means of biological engineering, the coronavirus S gene in
combination with deficient recombinant adenovirus, the protective immunogen
protein or polypeptide expressed therein, through expansion culture,
purification, and formulation to prepare a mucosal immunogenicity can cause the
gene vaccine, respiratory mucosal immune response induced by the body to
produce antibodies against the virus infection. Specific conditions of the
present invention, compared with conventional inactivated virus particle
vaccine, safe, easy to use, without limitation intramuscular, have broad
clinical applications.”
If the new coronavirus is an experimental SARS vaccine
that escaped a research lab, the Chinese should tell the world.
But, that’s not the whole story.
An HIV Connection?
On Jan. 27, 2020, researchers Prashant Pradhan,
Ashutosh Kumar Pandey, Akhilesh Mishra, Parul Gupta, Praveen Kumar Tripathi,
Manoj Balakrishnan Menon, James Gomes, Perumal Vivekanandan, and Professor
Bishwajit Kundu, from the Indian Institute of Technology, published a paper
on bioRxiv.org (pronounced “bio-archive”). It’s a free online archive and
distribution service for unpublished
preprints in the life sciences, operated by Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution, titled,
“Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1
gp120 and Gag.”
The authors say they found four insertions in the
spike glycoprotein (S) which are unique to the 2019-nCoV and are not present in
other coronaviruses.
“Importantly, amino acid residues in all 4 inserts
have identity or similarity to those of HIV-1 gp120 or HIV-1 Gag,” the team
reported. They wrote, “Interestingly, despite the inserts being discontinuous
on the primary amino acid sequence, 3D-modelling of the 2019-nCoV suggests that
they converge to constitute the receptor binding site. The finding of 4 unique
inserts in the 2019-nCoV, all of which have identity/similarity to amino acid
residues in key structural proteins of HIV-1 is unlikely to be fortuitous in
nature.”
Pradhan added, “To our surprise, these sequence
insertions were not only absent in S-protein of SARS but were also not observed
in any other member of the Coronaviridae family. This is startling as it is
quite unlikely for a virus to have acquired such unique insertions naturally in
a short duration of time.”
The paper states, “Unexpectedly, all the insertions
got aligned with Human immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1). Further analysis
revealed that aligned sequences of HIV-1 with 2019-nCoV were derived from
surface glycoprotein gp120 (amino acid sequence positions: 404-409, 462-467,
136-150) and from Gag protein (366-384 amino acid). Gag protein of HIV is
involved in host membrane binding, packaging of the virus and for the formation
of virus-like particles. Gp120 plays a crucial role in recognizing the host
cell by binding to the primary receptor CD4. This binding induces structural rearrangements
in GP120, creating a high-affinity binding site for a chemokine co-receptor
like CXCR4 and/or CCR5.”
It is well known that CD4 cells are essential to human
immunity and are the direct targets of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV.
HIV attaches to CD4 cells, enters, and infects them. The virus then turns each
infected CD4 cell into a factory creating more HIV virus until eventually all
CD4 cells are destroyed.
Other researchers chimed in reporting, “If we take a
closer look at the 4 insertions of the S-protein. . . they are all located on
the binding surface of the protein, seemly designed to be able to bind to
target cell receptor sites. Natural accidental mutation would be randomly
distributed across the whole length of the S-protein. It is highly unlikely
that all of these insertions would coincidentally be manifested on the binding
site of the S-protein.”
The article by Pradhan et. al., a preprint made
available through bioRxiv has not to-date been peer-reviewed and has been
“withdrawn.”
According to bioRxiv, “This paper has been withdrawn
by its authors. They intend to revise it in response to comments received from
the research community on their technical approach and their interpretation of
the results. If you have any questions, please contact the corresponding
author.”
bioRxiv’s website says, by posting preprints on
bioRxiv “authors are able to make their findings immediately available to the
scientific community and receive feedback on draft articles that are not
peer-reviewed, edited, or typeset before being posted online. However, all
articles undergo a basic screening process for offensive and/or non-scientific
content and for material that might pose a health or biosecurity risk and are
checked for plagiarism. No endorsement of an article’s methods, assumptions,
conclusions, or scientific quality by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is implied
by its appearance in bioRxiv. An article may be posted prior to, or
concurrently with, submission to a journal but should not be posted if it has
already been accepted for publication by a journal.”
If the new coronavirus has
an HIV-like mutation its ability to bind with human cells could be up to 1,000
times as strong as the SARS virus, according to scientists in China and Europe.
When looking at the genome sequence of the new
coronavirus, Professor Ruan Jishou of Nankai University in Tianjin found a
section of mutated genes that did not exist in Sars but were similar to those
found in HIV and Ebola.
“This finding suggests that 2019-nCoV [the new
coronavirus] may be significantly different from the Sars coronavirus in the
infection pathway,” the scientists said in a paper published on Chinaxiv.org, a
platform used by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to release scientific research
papers before they have been peer-reviewed.
“This virus may use the packing mechanisms of other
viruses such as HIV.”
According to the study, “The mutation can generate a
structure known as a cleavage site in the new coronavirus’ spike protein. The
virus uses the outreaching spike protein to hook on to the host cell, but
normally this protein is inactive. The cleavage site structure’s job is to
trick the human furin protein, so it will cut and activate the spike protein
and cause a “direct fusion” of the viral and cellular membranes.”
Compared to the SARS’ way of entry, this binding
method is “100 to 1,000 times” as efficient, according to the study.
In a follow-up study, a research team led by Professor
Li Hua from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei
province, confirmed Ruan’s findings.
“The mutation could not be found in Sars, Mers or
Bat-CoVRaTG13, a bat coronavirus that was considered the original source of the
new coronavirus with 96 percent similarity in genes,” it said.
This could be “the reason why SARS-CoV-2 is more
infectious than other coronaviruses”, Li wrote in a paper released on
Chinarxiv.
“Compared with SARS-CoV, 2019-nCoV appears to be more
readily transmitted from human to human,” the report of the study said. “The
high affinity of 2019-nCoV S for human ACE2 may contribute to the apparent ease
with which 2019-nCoV can spread from human to human.”
A good reason to panic.
Like almost everything related to COVID-19, we don’
know for sure what the origin of the virus is, if the virus was engineered as a
SARS vaccine, or if it was engineered with HIV elements.
We do know, however, doctors are using Kaletra – the
brand name for a combination of ritonavir and lopinavir, two antiretroviral
medications used to fight HIV – to fight COVID-19.
We also know that this novel coronavirus isn’t
supposed to be as dangerous as the flu, but it’s got governments around the
world trying not to panic their citizenry.
Maybe they should.
Whatever governments know, they should tell us. And,
based on the extreme measures taken in China, now Italy, and elsewhere, they
know a lot more than they’re letting on.
Obviously, governments don’t want to create panic.
But, maybe they should.
If COVID-19 is a far greater threat to the human race
than we’re being told, because it is an out-of-control engineered vaccine or a
bioweapon, maybe controlled panic, which is already evident, is justified and
maybe what’s necessary to get global governments, scientists, doctors, and the
public working together, immediately, to eradicate this potentially existential
threat to humanity.
Dr. Yuhong Dong, from Beijing University, says, “It is
imperative for scientists, physicians, and people all over the world, including
governments and public health authorities, to make every effort to investigate
this mysterious and suspicious virus in order to elucidate its origin and to
protect the ultimate future of the human race.”
Sincerely,
Shah
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