Thread by @gdemaneuf

@R_H_Ebright More about Olival:

https://twitter.com/gdemaneuf/status/1443796694844383232?s=20

@R_H_Ebright Olival is the one who had that very sudden epiphany about the risk of BatCov infection from bat guano ***just one year *** after the 3 people working in the Mojiang mine died with SARS-CoV like symptoms and with IgG+ tests.

doi.org/10.3201/eid190…

@R_H_Ebright Nothing was ever mentioned about these Mojiang deaths. Just one of these coincidences.

They had to rush a bit to do that paper, so they used bat guano samples that DARPA had collected back in 2006-7, before EHA was created and could replace them there.

vice.com/en_us/article/…

@R_H_Ebright The EHA put up a nice little simulation showing that there was 96% risk of epidemic spread in case of BatCov infection during bat guano collection.

Not sure how they got to that number - R0 and the likes are not clear.

static1.squarespace.com/static/5c7d60a…

@R_H_Ebright I guess that what they were saying is that:

- Mojiang could have had serious consequences if it had happened in a more populated area
- Please NIH/USAID, send us the money.
- Mojiang ??? Never heard of it.

@R_H_Ebright Anyway, for good measure the monks in that famous Thai bat cave have been harvesting bat guano every week-end for ages and selling it as fertilizers without any problem.

You need a Furin Cleavage Site to spice things up.
reuters.com/article/us-hea…

@R_H_Ebright So that's where DARPA may help. Let's go back to them again.

Please send the money.
drasticresearch.org

@R_H_Ebright @threadreaderapp compile