China Builds H5N1 Bird Flu Clone 13x More Deadly Than Natural Strain: Journal 'Emerging Microbes & Infections'
Scientists rebuild bird flu from code, causing brain damage, immune collapse, and death in mice—part of a international engineering push by China, the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and Brazil.
In a bombshell March 2025 study, Chinese scientists have cloned purported H5N1 bird flu viruses from scratch, then proved the lab-built version is 13 times more lethal in mammals than an older strain.
The research, published in Emerging Microbes & Infections, is a textbook example of gain-of-function (GOF) research, despite growing public opposition.
Using a method called reverse genetics, researchers from the University of Hong Kong reportedly chemically synthesized each gene segment of a newly emerged H5N1 virus isolated from dairy cattle in Texas in 2024 (A/dairy cattle/Texas/24-008749-003/2024).
They then inserted those gene segments into plasmids and reassembled them inside cells to produce a live, infectious virus—entirely built in the lab.
In simple terms: they didn’t take the virus from nature—they created it from code.
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Once created, the synthetic virus—dubbed “Cattle-H5N1”—was tested in BALB/c mice and compared to an older Clade 1 H5N1 virus (A/Vietnam/1194/2004).
The results were troubling:
Cattle-H5N1 was 13x more lethal, with an mLD₅₀ of 1.48 PFU compared to 20 PFU for the older virus.
It infected the lungs, brain, spleen, and mammary glands with unprecedented efficiency.
It triggered neurological symptoms such as spinning, limb paralysis, and trembling in mice—symptoms not observed with the older virus.
It led to massive immune cell death and splenic atrophy, indicating collapse of the immune system.
7 out of 30 suckling pups co-housed with infected mothers tested positive for infection, suggesting potential milk-borne transmission.
The authors confirm that the virus infected type II pneumocytes and CD45+ immune cells more frequently than the older strain, leading to more severe lung damage and diffuse alveolar destruction.
The brain was also heavily infected, with widespread viral antigen found in the olfactory bulb, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and cerebellum.
“Cattle-H5N1 is more virulent in mice than VNM1194-H5N1,” the study concludes—despite the virus being synthetically constructed from sequence alone.
A Global Pattern of Bird Flu Engineering
The China-led study is part of a global trend of bird flu virus engineering that spans four countries: China, Brazil, South Korea, and the United States.
Each nation is conducting reverse genetics experiments to build and test pandemic-capable H5N1 variants, often with no clear public oversight.
In Brazil, scientists at the Butantan Institute built three never-before-seen H5Nx viruses using reverse genetics. They inserted gene segments from multiple wild bird flu strains into a lab-adapted backbone to create chimeric influenza viruses that were mass-produced in over a million eggs and tested in rats. The study reported hemorrhagic lesions in chicken embryos and vaccine failure unless paired with strong adjuvants.
In South Korea, researchers combined gene segments from three separate bird flu viruses into one recombinant mutant with enhanced heat stability, altered host receptor binding, and improved human cell entry. These properties match key gain-of-function (GOF) criteria. South Korean researchers also made a wild H5N1 bird flu strain 100% lethal in mammals by infecting mice with a virus containing just 4% of the mammalian-adaptive PB2-E627K mutation, which rapidly took over and killed every host—including through contact transmission. The mutation spread to the brain, causing seizures and neurodegeneration, demonstrating how even a small percentage of lab-facilitated adaptation can quickly evolve into full-blown mammalian virulence.
In Japan and the U.S., NIH-funded researchers led by Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka rebuilt a bovine H5N1 virus from cDNA and then drove the evolution of drug resistance by delaying antiviral treatment. The result: engineered viruses with up to 136-fold resistance to baloxavir, a frontline flu drug.
U.S. Government Prepping Bird Flu Vaccines—While Labs Build the Virus
While labs around the world engineer pandemic-grade bird flu viruses, the Trump administration has launched a $500 million “Generation Gold Standard” vaccine initiative, focused explicitly on avian influenza.
Led by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the initiative includes two experimental vaccines (BPL-1357 and BPL-24910), both designed to provide broad protection against flu strains, including those that haven’t even emerged yet.
One vaccine uses “four wild-type avian influenza A viruses.”
The other claims to defend against bird flu, coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-1, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2, suggesting the government may be preparing for a hybrid pandemic scenario.
Despite public claims that gain-of-function research is banned, a recent rule from the White House gives federal agencies the authority to waive GOF oversight entirely, enabling research like this to continue under the radar.
Coordinated Pandemic Creation?
Put together, these developments paint a picture of international orchestration, not just response.
Scientists in multiple countries are cloning, modifying, and amplifying bird flu viruses using reverse genetics.
These viruses are becoming more virulent, more transmissible, and more resistant to treatment.
Simultaneously, governments are fast-tracking pandemic vaccine platforms and stockpiling experimental bird flu shots.
Oversight is either suspended or bypassed.
The pattern mirrors COVID: engineer the virus, launch the vaccine, profit from both, with lots of death resulting from both the pathogen as well as the countermeasure (vaccine).
The U.S. government has confirmed COVID-19 originated from lab-based gain-of-function work, yet it is now directly funding the same playbook with H5N1.
This time, they’re not waiting for a natural outbreak but actively building the threat.
This latest study from China may be a warning that the pandemic pieces are in motion.
The virus is being built, and the vaccines are being prepared.
The question is: how long before release?
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Have we gone nuts or what! I guess bio GOF are going to exterminate humanity and not nuclear!
Stop this merry go round to hell!
I don’t know. I just don’t buy the crap any longer. Some of the top scientists and doctors in the world claim that viruses do not exist and I believe them. Take the brilliant Dr. Yeadon who used to work for Pfizer, I really think of all people, he would very well know. His advice is to not let them inject you with anything.
Last round I lost six immediate family members and two good friends in a ten month period. While that was very destructive to myself and many others, I clearly remember something very critical about it. Not one of them were sick before taking the jabs and the ones who made it to the hospital all soon had kidney failure. They were put on a vent and dialysis which from what I have read is the hospital death protocol using Remdesivir. Although everyone tested positive with their fake pcr tests, not one of my friends or family members got sick or died until they took their anecdote and prevention. That reveals a lot to me. It reveals to me that their pathogens probably do not even exist but, that no one should panic and take their jabs or enter a hospital without a trusted personal advocate that can be there 24/7 to question everything being done before it’s done. This is serious, people! It’s a matter of life or death. When the medical system is killing so many people, it’s time to open our eyes and think before reacting.