“According to the latest findings, parts of the claims made in the study about contamination in test samples can no longer be verified without reasonable doubt.”
The journal “Science” and a team led by Jan Felix Drexler of the Charité in Berlin pulled out a study on the origin of the corona variant Omicron. According to the study, published in early December, omicron formed gradually over several months in different African countries. “According to the latest findings, parts of the claims made in the study about contamination in test samples can no longer be verified without reasonable doubt.”
The Charité announced on Tuesday. Shortly after publication, other scientists raised doubts about the genome sequences. In a subsequent post-analysis of residual samples, impurities were found. “The publication’s continuing statement that viruses with omicron sequence characteristics existed before official detection in South Africa is based on consistent PCR detections from laboratories in several African countries,” writes the Charité. However, the individual stages of virus evolution could no longer be unambiguously reconstructed due to the impurities that occurred.
13,000 samples from 22 African countries
According to their own statements, dozens of researchers examined a total of 13,000 samples from 22 African countries for the “Science” study. The Charité writes that the entire publication has now been withdrawn because the large number of samples to be checked makes it impossible to correct it in a timely manner.
Just a few days after the study was published, the proven expert on virus mutations, Richard Neher (University of Basel), expressed skepticism about it. “Not convinced,” he wrote on Twitter. Some of the researchers’ data did not support their thesis of the gradual evolution of the omicron.
variant appeared in people living with HIV?
Omicron has an exceptionally high number of about 30 amino acid changes in the all-important spike protein alone. The multitude of genetic alterations has led other experts to hypothesize that the variant may have developed in a person with HIV or another form of immune deficiency. Another hypothesis assumes that omicrons developed in animals and then returned to humans.
(apa)