A recent study published in the journal Cell has provided new evidence for the theory that Covid-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, originated in a market in Wuhan, China, where humans contracted the virus from infected animals in late 2019.
Almost five years after the start of the pandemic, the scientific community is still debating the cause of the virus. The main theories surrounding its origin include the possibility of a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan and transmission to humans through a wild animal in a local market. Although the zoonotic hypothesis has received more support, the controversy persists.
The results of this new study were based on more than 800 samples collected at the Huanan Seafood Market in January 2020, after it had closed.
Although the samples were taken from surfaces and drains, and not from animals or people, an evolutionary biologist from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) confirmed “that wild animals were present at this market at the end of 2019, in particular belonging to species such as raccoon dogs and civets.”
“These animals were in the southwest corner of the market, which also happens to be an area where a lot of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, was detected,” he added.
Florence Debarre, co-author of the study, explained that these mammals are possible intermediate hosts of the virus, which is believed to have originated in bats.
Debarre said the discovery of DNA from various species, including palm civets, bamboo rats and raccoon dogs, in the positive Covid samples taken at a market stall “means that the early diversity of the virus is found in the market, as expected if this is the site where it emerged.”
Professor James Wood, an epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, said the study “provides very strong evidence that wildlife stalls at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan are a hotspot for the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The research also concluded that “little or nothing has been done to limit live wildlife trade, biodiversity loss or land use changes that are the likely real drivers of past and future pandemics” and noted that “these aspects are also not included in the draft pandemic treaty” currently being negotiated internationally.
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2024-09-23 20:25:27