Exotic animal trade was most likely pathway for coronavirus pandemic, new research suggests
The global coronavirus pandemic “most likely” According to new research, the Covid-19 outbreak originated in an exotic wildlife corner at a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The outbreak was first detected at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in December 2019.
According to the authors of a paper published Thursday in Cell, a peer-reviewed American scientific journal, animals that are “Possible intermediate hosts” of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, were present at the exact location within the market to which the first cases of the disease were linked.
The investigation focused on samples collected by Chinese scientists in January 2020 from drains, cages and soil in the southwest corner of the market, where wild animals were known to be sold at a handful of stalls.
Among the species whose DNA was discovered were the raccoon dog, the masked palm civet, the hoary bamboo rat, the Amur hedgehog, the Malayan porcupine, the greater hog badger and the Himalayan marmot.
Raccoon dogs are known to be susceptible to Covid-19 infections and can transmit the virus, the authors noted.
“There is ample epidemiological evidence supporting that the wildlife trade in the Huanan market is the most likely conduit for the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic,” This is what the report states.
According to the authors, it is possible that animals infected with SARS-CoV-2 were introduced into the market and that the virus then jumped to humans, in what is known as a spillover event.
“The most likely origin of this pandemic is what has always worried us in this field, which is taking these kinds of wild animals that harbor exotic viruses and placing them in the middle of the powder keg of a big city.” Co-author Michael Worobey, who is head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, told NPR News.
Critics of the article noted, however, that the swabs were not representative as they were taken from a specific section of the market.
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After first being detected in China in December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread rapidly around the world, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to characterize the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
According to the WHO, more than 7 million people have died from coronavirus worldwide so far.
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