Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison genetically modified the h1n1 virus that caused the influenza outbreak in 2009 to "dodge" the antibodies produced by the immune system, effectively rendering humans unable to resist the re-epidemic of the virus.
Most parts of the world are now immune to this influenza virus that broke out in 2009, which means that this virus can now be treated as a less dangerous "seasonal flu". But Professor Hegang deliberately wanted to see if it could be transformed into the state before the flu outbreak to analyze the genetic changes involved.
This study has not been published, but some scientists who heard about it were shocked that Hegang was allowed to deliberately remove humans’ only line of defense against this deadly virus.
Kawaoka has not announced the details of the study, but he admitted that the study has been completed and will be submitted to a scientific journal. He said the experiment is to monitor whether the H1N1 virus in 2009 will change to avoid the immune system, thereby improving vaccine design.
He said in an e-mail: "We chose to avoid viruses from the immune system under appropriate confined conditions in the laboratory, so that we were able to identify the key areas that allowed the 2009 H1N1 virus to evade the immune system."
He said: "Viruses isolated in the clinic have been found to have these same changes. This shows that there are viruses that can evade the immune system in nature, and this type of research we have carried out is meaningful for studying what happens in nature. of."
A scientist said: "Hegang selected the strains of influenza viruses that were not eliminated by human antibodies in 2009, and repeated this several times until a truly special virus was discovered. He undoubtedly succeeded. He used a flu that is known to infect humans. The virus and then change its nature. If this virus escapes his laboratory, the global population will have no resistance."