Scientists are focusing on the animal origin of COVID-19

Approximately two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the origin of the virus that is afflicting the world remains a mystery.

Most scientists believe that it appeared in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal. Others have theorized that it has escaped from the Chinese lab.

Currently, the number of COVID-19 deaths worldwide exceeds 5.2 million in the second anniversary of early human cases, and more and more scientists are finding more plausible “zoonoses” or I’m trying to focus on what I consider to be an animal. -Human, theory, and lessons hope that humanity will help dodge new viruses and variants.

“In places like Twitter, the lab leak scenario is getting a lot of attention,” but “there is no evidence that the virus was in the lab,” said Stephen Goldstein, a scientist at the University of Utah.In the journal cell Presented evidence of animal origin in August.

Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, who contributed to this article, always thought that zoonosis was more likely than laboratory infections, but other scientists last spring. Said he signed a letter saying that both theories are feasible. Since then, he has stated that he is more confident about the animal hypothesis “much supported by the data” by his own and others’ studies.

Last month, Warobi released a COVID-19 timeline linking the first known human cases to the Huanan Seafood Water Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, where live animals were sold.

“The idea of ​​La Boliak is arguably a big distraction that is out of focus from what actually happened,” he said.

Others are not so convinced. During the summer, according to a review ordered by President Joe Biden, four U.S. intelligence agencies are convinced that the virus first transmitted from animals to humans, and one agency said that the first infection was in the laboratory. I believed with moderate confidence that it was related to. ..

Some proponents of the laboratory leak hypothesis said that researchers were mistakenly exposed while working with samples from the wild, or perhaps due to inadequate safety practices after creating the virus in the laboratory. I have a theory. US intelligence has rejected allegations that China has developed the virus as a biological weapon.

Continuing to look for an answer fueled tensions between the United States and China and accused the United States of being a disaster scapegoat. Some experts are afraid that the origin of the pandemic may never be known.

From bats to people

The scientist said in cell The paper that SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, is the ninth documented coronavirus that infects humans. All the previous ones were of animal origin.

This includes the virus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak. This is also related to the market for selling live animals in China.

Many researchers believe that wildlife is an intermediate host for SARS-CoV-2. This means that wild animals were infected with the bat coronavirus and then evolved. Scientists are looking for the exact bat coronavirus involved and identified three viruses in Laos bats that are more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than other known viruses in September.

Warobib suspects that the raccoon dog was an intermediate host. Mammals like foxes are susceptible to coronavirus and were sold raw in the South China market, he said.

“Evidence of a gold standard of animal origin” would be an infected animal from it, Goldstein said. “But as far as we know, the market has been wiped out.”

Earlier this year, a joint report by the World Health Organization and China was the most likely scenario of transmission of the virus from bats to humans via another animal, with laboratory leaks “very likely.” Not really. “

However, the report also questioned the first known COVID-19 case by nailing it as the first symptomatic accountant on December 8, 2019, unrelated to the South China market. .. Wolobay argued that supporters of Laborak’s theory had escaped the virus from a facility at the Wuhan Virology Institute near where the man lived.

However, according to a Wolobay study, the man was interviewed in an interview, and the illness on December 8 was actually a tooth problem, and the symptoms of COVID-19 began on December 16 on the date confirmed in hospital records. Said that.

Warobi’s analysis identifies previous cases. A vendor in the Huanan market that announced COVID-19 on December 11th.

Animal threat

Experts are worried that viral transmissions from animals of the same species to humans can cause new pandemics — and exacerbate this.

Since the advent of COVID-19, various types of animals such as pet cats, dogs and ferrets have been infected. Zoo animals such as big cats, otters, and non-human primates. Farm-grown mink; and white-tailed deer.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people got the virus from people. According to this, humans can spread the virus to animals when they are in close contact, but animals have a low risk of transmitting the virus to humans.

But another fear is that animals may unleash new viral variants. Some wonder if the Omicron variant started this way.

“Around the world, there may be animals that potentially hatch these mutants, even if we get them. [COVID-19] “It’s under human control,” said David O’Connor, a virology expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. rice field.

Mr. Warobib said he was looking for genetic fingerprints that could indicate whether Omicron was created when the virus jumped from humans to animals, mutated, and bounced off people.

According to experts, the prevention of Zunotic disease not only cracks down on the illegal sale of wildlife, but also advances major global issues such as habitat destruction and climate change that increase dangerous contact between humans and animals. is needed.

Scientists said the animal origin of the virus could not be fully investigated. cell The paper said, “It will leave the world vulnerable to future pandemics resulting from the same human activity that has repeatedly left us on the course of collision with new viruses.”

“Toxic” politics

However, further investigation has been hampered by the politics of the superpowers. Lawrence Gostyn of Georgetown University said there was a “naive battle” between China and the United States.

“Politics over origin investigations have literally poisoned wells of global cooperation,” said Gostyn, director of the WHO Cooperation Center on National and World Health Law. “Politics was literally toxic.”

Last year’s AP study found that the Chinese government tightly controlled all studies on the origin of COVID-19 and promoted the fringe theory that the virus may have come from abroad.

“This is a very closed country instinctively, never allowing free access by foreigners to its territory,” Gostyn said.

Still, Gostyn said there was one positive development that came out of the survey.

WHO has formed an advisory group to investigate the origin of the pandemic. And while Gostyn suspects the panel will solve the mystery, “they will have a group of talented scientists ready to be deployed immediately in the next pandemic.” Said.