I find this tweet really upsetting. I grew up in South Africa- moved there in 1976. Around that time an Australian died of Marburg in Johannesburg as a result of zoonotic infection in Zimbabwe. There was fear of this disease when I was growing up. 1/
I find this tweet really upsetting. I grew up in South Africa- moved there in 1976. Around that time an Australian died of Marburg in Johannesburg as a result of zoonotic infection in Zimbabwe. There was fear of this disease when I was growing up. 1/
Yes, in 1967 monkeys with the virus were shipped via London to Germany for vaccine testing, and infected some researchers in Frankfurt & Marburg who were not properly protected. This had nothing to do with SARS-CoV-2 lab leak theories which relate to gain-of-function research. 2/
Putting Marburg forward as an example of "lab leak" in the current context of intense debate over the origins of #covid19 is highly irresponsible. Yes, animal research carries risks.. all animal research does.. and one can debate its ethics. Is it ok to work with mice? 3/
@lpachter Irresponsible? Simply because it doesn't support your pet narrative. Shame on you for deciding what ought to be censored.
@PrometheusCHT I don’t have a narrative. Check my history. Zero. None. But Marburg has nothing to do with this debate.
@lpachter Why do you think it came up? Because people were citing prior probablities ignoring Marburg. That was misinfo. People attempted to clarify, now your colleagues are playing the most embarrassing game of semantics I've witnessed.