Department of Immunobiology, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
mSphere. 2023 Apr 20;8(2):e0003423. doi: 10.1128/msphere.00034-23. Epub 2023 Jan 26.
Viruses have brought humanity many challenges: respiratory infection, cancer, neurological impairment and immunosuppression to name a few. Virology research over the last 60+ years has responded to reduce this disease burden with vaccines and antivirals. Despite this long history, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented attention to the field of virology. Some of this attention is focused on concern about the safe conduct of research with human pathogens. A small but vocal group of individuals has seized upon these concerns - conflating legitimate questions about safely conducting virus-related research with uncertainties over the origins of SARS-CoV-2. The result has fueled public confusion and, in many instances, ill-informed condemnation of virology. With this article, we seek to promote a return to rational discourse. We explain the use of gain-of-function approaches in science, discuss the possible origins of SARS-CoV-2 and outline current regulatory structures that provide oversight for virological research in the United States. By offering our expertise, we - a broad group of working virologists - seek to aid policy makers in navigating these controversial issues. Balanced, evidence-based discourse is essential to addressing public concern while maintaining and expanding much-needed research in virology.
呼吸道感染、癌症、神经损伤和免疫抑制等。过去 60 多年的病毒学研究通过疫苗和抗病毒药物来减轻疾病负担。尽管历史悠久，但 COVID-19 大流行使病毒学领域受到了前所未有的关注。其中一些关注集中在对人类病原体安全研究的担忧上。一小部分声音较大的人抓住了这些担忧，将安全进行与 SARS-CoV-2 起源相关的病毒研究的合理问题与对病毒研究的不确定性混为一谈。其结果导致公众感到困惑，在许多情况下，对病毒学进行了不明智的谴责。本文旨在促进理性讨论的回归。我们解释了功能获得方法在科学中的应用，讨论了 SARS-CoV-2 的可能起源，并概述了美国病毒学研究的现行监管结构。通过提供我们的专业知识，我们——一群广泛的工作病毒学家——寻求帮助政策制定者解决这些有争议的问题。平衡、基于证据的讨论对于解决公众关切，同时维护和扩大病毒学领域急需的研究至关重要。
