LONDON —
Scientists looking for the origin of COVID-19 They have compiled a short list of animals that may have helped transmit the disease to people, in an effort they hope can help them trace the outbreak back to its source.
Researchers analysed genetic material collected at the Chinese market where the first outbreak was detected and found that the most likely animals were raccoon dogs, civets and bamboo rats. Scientists suspect that the infected animals were brought to the Wuhan market in late November 2019, which in turn sparked the pandemic.
Michael Worobey, one of the authors of the new study, said his team found which subpopulations of animals may have transmitted the coronavirus to humans. This could help researchers pinpoint where the virus commonly circulates in animals, known as its natural reservoir.
“For example, in the case of the raccoon dogs, we can show that the raccoon dogs that were (in the market) … belonged to a subspecies that circulates more in parts of southern China,” said Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona. This knowledge could help researchers understand where the animals came from and where they were sold. Scientists could then begin collecting samples from bats in the area, known to be natural reservoirs for related coronaviruses such as the one that causes SARS.
While the research strengthens the argument that COVID-19 has an animal origin, it does not resolve the polarized political debate over whether the virus emerged from a research laboratory in China.
Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Edinburgh, said the new genetic analysis indicated the pandemic “had its evolutionary roots in the market” and that it was highly unlikely that COVID-19 had infected people before it was identified at the Huanan market.
“This is an important find and tips the balance in favour of an animal origin,” said Woolhouse, who is not connected to the research. “But it is not conclusive.”
A group of experts led by the World Health Organization concluded in 2001 that the virus probably spread to humans from animals and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said it was “premature” to rule out a lab leak.
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