US scientists have infected 2,400 rhesus macaques with coronavirus to find a vaccine. Symptoms include fever, cough, pneumonia, organ failure, septic shock, and death.
ANNA SAVVA: ‘Lab monkeys have been infected with a deadly strain of coronavirus in a bid to find a vaccine to halt the disease’s path. Rhesus macaques have been infected with the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-Cov) and then given an experimental antiviral vaccine. More than 2,400 of the animals have been infected with the disease by scientists… The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that the particular strain has already killed 910 humans.
Symptoms of MERS include fever, cough, and/or shortness of breath, with pneumonia, organ failure and septic shock often caused by the disease… The macaques study had one group of primates, housed at a lab in Hamilton, Montana, receive the drug 24 hours before infection with MERS-CoV… The animals which were treated after infection had less damage done to their lungs than the control animals…
The UK’s RSPCA estimates thousands of monkeys, mainly macaques and marmosets, are used in research and testing. RSPCA say: “In the UK, around 3,000 monkeys are used annually. Much of this use is to develop and test the safety and effectiveness of potential human medicines and vaccines. “Primates are also used for studying how the brain functions and in research relating to human reproduction.” In the US a record 71,317 monkeys were used in labs in 2010 and a similar number were tested on in 2018, when 70,797 monkeys were used’. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: