New Evidence Links COVID-19 Pandemic to Animal Market Origins

The Hunan Seafood Wholesale wet market in Wuhan, China, has been widely believed to be the primary source of the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent research has bolstered this theory by analyzing over 800 samples collected from the market and its vicinity in January 2020 as the pandemic unfolded.

The study, published in the journal Cell, identified the presence of animal species known to transmit the COVID virus within the market’s environment.

Study co-author Kristian Andersen, who directs infectious disease genomics at Scripps Research, stated, “This paper adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid- to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic.”

The research revealed that common raccoon dogs, known to be susceptible to SARS-CoV, had close associations with market wildlife stalls linked to COVID-19. Additionally, genetic traces from other species, including masked palm civets and the Malayan porcupine, were also found to correlate with COVID infection.

Michael Worobey, head of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, emphasized that these animals were the same ones that previously enabled the SARS coronavirus to jump to humans in 2002.

He described the late 2019 situation in Wuhan as highly perilous, saying, “This is the most risky thing we can do—take wild animals that are teeming with viruses and then play with fire by bringing them into contact with humans living in the heart of big cities, whose population densities make it easy for these viruses to take hold.”

Following the market’s closure, investigators from the Chinese version of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved in hours later to collect samples. They swabbed various surfaces, including floors and stalls, gathering hundreds of samples.

On subsequent visits, the CDC team focused on stalls that sold wildlife, gathering samples from cages, carts, and drains. However, due to the immediate clearing of many key animal species before their arrival, direct evidence of infected animals was lacking.

Florence Debarre, a co-author from the French National Center for Scientific Research, pointed out, “We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where SARS-CoV-2 was found, too. This is what you would expect under a scenario in which there were infected animals in the market.”

The international research team conducted genetic sequencing on the collected samples to track SARS-CoV-2’s presence and identify wildlife species at the market from which COVID-19 likely emerged.

Evolutionary analyses of the earliest COVID strains suggest that there were few, if any, human cases prior to the outbreak in the market, aligning with historical instances of animal viruses transitioning to humans.

Debarre added, “In this paper, we show that the sequences linked to the market are consistent with a market emergence. The main diversity of SARS-CoV-2 was in the market from the very beginning.”

Understanding the origins of the pandemic remains crucial, especially given the ongoing risks from pathogens originating from animals, such as avian flu.

Worobey stressed the importance of uncovering the truth about SARS-CoV-2’s origins, noting the impact on national security and public health worldwide. He remarked, “There has been a lot of disinformation and misinformation about where SARS-CoV-2 originated. The truth is, since the pandemic started more than four years ago, although there has been an increased focus on lab safety, not much has been done to decrease the chances of a zoonotic scenario like this happening again.”

Source: HealthDay