While the debate continues about whether COVID-19 escaped from a biotech lab or emerged in a Wuhan wet market, a new study suggests the latter is much, much more likely.
The research, led by an international team of scientists, identifies DNA from raccoon dogs, masked palm civets, and other species co-located with the virus, suggesting the animals could have been carriers of SARS-CoV-2. Just after the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market was closed in January 2022, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention researchers visited the site to swab toilets, stalls, stray animals, trash cans, and random animal parts left behind. The DNA and RNA in the samples were then sequenced and analyzed.
From Nature:
The co-location of viral and animal genetic material is "strongly suggestive" that the animals were infected, says Gigi Gronvall, a biosecurity specialist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. "I was quite amazed by how many animals were there," she says.
Bats, from which the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 probably originated, were not detected in the genetic data. The lack of bat DNA is unsurprising, says Alice Hughes, a conservation biologist at the University of Hong Kong who studies bats and the wildlife trade. Although bats are commonly eaten in southern China, they are not typically sold in the country's markets.
The authors of the Cell study also argue that the viral diversity present in the market suggests it was the site of the pandemic's emergence
Previously:
• Covid-19's 'patient zero' was, indeed, a woman who sold seafood, according to new Science report
• A study shows COVID-19 came from the fish market. Watch the folks pushing lab leak theories move the goalposts
• RFK Jr. spins deranged CIA Covid pandemic conspiracy
