Two Chinese nationals were reportedly accused of smuggling the “dangerous biological pathogen” to the United States for Research at the University of Michigan Laboratory. The pathogen reportedly had the potential to use as an agricultural terrorist weapon. On Tuesday, the US Ministry of Justice identified the pathogen as a fusarium graminearum.
The US Department said that Fusarium graminearum is a fungus that was classified as a potential “agroterorizing weapon” in scientific literature. The statement states that the fungus causes a “head” in some crops and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses around the world every year. “Head Blight” is a disease of wheat, barley, corn and rice.
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“Fusarium graminearum toxins cause vomiting, liver damage and reproductive defects in humans and livestock” The US Ministry of Justice said.
Both accused Chinese nationals were identified as Yunqing Jian (33 years) and Zunyong Liu, 34.
They were charged with a criminal complaint “with conspiracy, smuggling goods to the United States, false statements and visa fraud,” said US lawyer Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. The complaint is only an accusation and is not evidence of guilt.
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China was under the scanner for alleged responsible for the outbreak of several diseases and pandemic. Pandemie Coronavirus is the latest example. Here are the times when China was responsible for the outbreak of virus, epidemic and pandemic:
1.
The origin of the Bubonic plague led to a sharp debate among historians. According to Max Planck Society based in GermanyThe plague first entered the Mediterranean Sea in 1347 through merchant ships carrying goods from the Golden Horde in the Black Sea. The rats on the ship brought with them black death, the bubonic plague.
Black death is considered one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. In 1346-53 it spread around West Asia, North Africa, in the Middle East and Europe. According to the report, this first wave spread to a 500 -year -old pandemic, the so -called second plague pandemic, which lasted until the beginning of the 19th century.
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Although the origin of the second plague pandemic has been discussed for a long time, one of the most popular theories has supported its source in East Asia, specifically in China, the report added.
Meanwhile according to New York Times message Published in 2022, scientists found that black death arrived in 1338 or 1339 near Issyk-Kul, lakes in a mountainous area west of China in Kyrgyzstan.
“For the first time, the plague infected people in a small nearby settlement of traders eight years before it destroyed Eurasia and killed 60 percent of the population,” the report added.
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2. Asian flu in 1957
It is said that the pandemic of 1957-1959, called Asian flu, appeared in East Asia. The Launch He said the virus appeared in China in the winter of 1957 and quickly spread throughout the world through boats, aircraft and trains.
However, there are various accounts on where the 1957 pandemic was created “Asian flu”, which was caused by a new influenza and (H2N2) virus. According to Reuters, the US Center for Control and Prevention of Diseases (CDC) states that the virus was first reported in Singapore in February 1957, before it spread to Hong Kong in April and the US in the summer.
Pandemie killed 2 million people around the world in a two -year period.
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3. Coronavirus in 2002
Koronavirus SARS (SARS-COV) was first identified in November 2002 in the Guangdong province in South China, Reuters reported. The epidemic affected 26 countries and resulted in more than 8,000 cases in 2003.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that SARS cases were found in November 2002 as part of the focus that appeared in China. He added that the pathogen causing the disease was identified as coronavirus at the end of February 2003.
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4. Covid-19 in 2019
Pandemie Covid-19 was also caused by SARS-COV virus. However, the location of the origin is still discussed. 31 December 2019 Wuhan Municipal Health Commission announced in China a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan in Hubei province. Finally, a new coronavirus was identified.
Since then, several theories have been presented to understand the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. The current argument revolves around two theories: one is a laboratory escape scenario, where the pathogen escaped from the laboratory, the other is human contact with zoonotic diseases.
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China challenges the claim that the virus escaped from the Wuhan laboratory or that it was created in China. The country recently proposed that the Covid-19 virus could have been created in the US.
“The Covid-19 may have appeared in the United States before its officially proclaimed timeline and before the outbreak in China,” said the White Book published by the official press agency Xinhua early this year.
(Tagstotranslate) Chinese nationals
