Scientists have found previously unknown Chinese data from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale brand related to the outbreak.
According to Berlin-based virologist Christian Drosten, preliminary results of a genetic study support the assumption of a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2. The analysis, which has yet to be independently verified, puts raccoon dogs in action in Wuhan, China, as potential carriers of the corona virus. According to The Atlantic magazine, scientists came across previously unknown Chinese data from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
This market is associated with the first Corona outbreak. Genetic sequences were obtained from swabs collected at and near market stalls at the start of the pandemic. A few days ago they were entered into the freely accessible “Gisaid” genome database by researchers at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and discovered and analyzed there – almost by chance – by scientists in Europe, North America and Australia. .
“The preliminary result strongly supports my assumption that it originated in raccoon dogs or other carnivores (meat eaters) such as fluttering cats, which has manifested itself since the beginning of the pandemic,” Drosten said on Friday.
According to “The Atlantic”, an assessment led by virus experts Kristian Andersen, Edward Holmes and Michael Worobey showed that several market samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 also contained animal genetic material – often from dogs – raccoon, a common species on fur farms kept relatives of foxes. Among other things, the way the sample was collected, scientists conclude that a raccoon dog infected with the corona virus could be in the affected areas.
“These are preliminary assessments of Chinese raw data. A comprehensive study of the scientists actually involved in the investigation will certainly take place shortly,” explained Drosten. The new findings are likely to reignite the debate over the origin of the corona virus. There is also the theory of a laboratory failure as a possible origin.
Wild animals may have transmitted viruses
The theory that the coronavirus jumped from wild animals to humans traded in the Wuhan market in 2019 has been circulating since the start of the pandemic. One reason was existing knowledge about the first SARS virus, which was also the case, explained Drosten. “Of course, you have to take any theory about the origin of the virus seriously, but a natural origin from one of the animal groups mentioned was the most likely explanation from the start.”
The fact that the virus and the mammalian genetic material now analyzed are so closely intermingled — enough to be extracted from a single swab — is not perfect evidence, virologist Seema Lakdawala of Emory University told The Atlantic. It is an important step, but it does not have the same value as if SARS-CoV-2 had been detected directly from a raccoon dog or in the virus sample from a mammal sold in Wuhan at the time of the outbreak.
No definitive answer
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday: “These data do not provide us with a definitive answer about how the pandemic started, but any information is important to get closer to that answer.”
The WHO chief criticized China’s information policy. “These data could have been made available three years ago, and they should have been. We again ask China to be transparent in making the data available, and we ask China to conduct the necessary investigations and report the results.”
Data has already been deleted
Material that was temporarily available on “Gisaid” has been deleted by China – why, you have to ask the Chinese CDC, said Corona expert Maria van Kerkhove in Geneva. According to them, the data prove that raccoon dogs were trafficked in the market. This had previously been assumed but never confirmed. Stay open to where the animals came from, whether farm animals or wild animals. It must also be emphasized that the virus has not been detected in an animal itself.
“It’s a little surprising that this data has only just been collected,” said Fabian Leendertz of the Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald. Testing environmental samples for the genetic makeup of animals in the area in question is, in fact, a routine procedure. “What’s left now is to look further back – are there still infected intermediate hosts? Where did raccoon dogs (or other susceptible animals that were traded there) possibly get the virus from?”
(APA)