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After in-depth analysis of genetic material from hundreds of folds taken from the Henan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China – a site that was the epicenter of the early spread of Covid-19. – Scientists say they now know exactly which animal species were in the same area where researchers found the most positive samples for the virus that causes Covid-19.
The species found in the areas where the highest number of SARS-CoV-2 samples were found were the raccoon dog, hoary bamboo rat, dog, European rabbit, Amur hedgehog, Malayan porcupine, Reeves' mintjack, Himalayan marmot, and masked palm civet.
The new findings add to the strong but conclusive evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus jumped from infected animals to humans and that the market was there. Central location Early distribution.
The researchers used a technique called metagenomic sequencing to identify the commercial animals and read all the genetic material in the samples to determine where they came from.
The analysis, it was Published on Thursday In the journal Cell, it was not confirmed that animals were infected with the virus, but DNA was found near the virus, sometimes in the same wash. That means there is a high chance that the animals in the market are contaminated.
Among the animals available in the market, rabbits, dogs and raccoon dogs are known to be susceptible to Covid-19 infection. Raccoon dogs They have also been shown to transmit the infection, making them a strong candidate to be the animals that first transmitted the virus to humans.
The international research team behind the study also used genetic material from commercially available samples to perform an evolutionary analysis, a method that helps them estimate when the virus first emerged and what its closest genetic connections might be.
“They're essentially carbon-binding viruses,” said Dr. Christian Anderson, director of infectious disease genomics at The Scripps Institute for Translational Research in La Jolla, California.
By understanding how quickly the virus that causes Covid mutates or mutates — it gets about two genetic mutations a month — it's possible to estimate how old it is.
The researchers believe that the virus that triggered the outbreak was discovered between mid-November and mid-December 2019.
Their analysis shows that the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the market appeared at the same time as the large epidemic, which are one and the same.
If it first came from somewhere else and then went to the market where it spread – as the laboratory leak theory of the origin of Covid-19 suggests – the time of the virus appearing in the market would have been different from the disease itself. Andersen said the virus that caused the outbreak did. The pandemic virus has an early birthday.
Other lines of evidence point in the same direction.
A third of the first 174 people who contracted Covid-19 had contact with the market, and many others who had no direct contact lived around the market in the city of 12 million people.
When Anderson first saw how tight this set was, he said, “I was blown away.”
When he began looking at the results of hundreds of swabs taken in the market in January 2020, he said, “When I looked at what was happening in the market, and I saw that cluster of environmental positivity, my brain was literally blown. I was like, 'I can't believe what I'm looking at here,'” Anderson said.
Another important clue where the market started the epidemic is the fact that both strains of the virus – the “A” lineage and the “B” lineage – which were circulating since the first days of the epidemic, were found on plants collected in the market. .
Anderson said scientists have never had this much information at this level of detail for an outbreak before.
The findings are in close agreement with similar analyzes carried out by Chinese scientists It was published in the journal Nature In 2023. The data used to conduct the analysis was brief The subject of an international conspiracy In the year In March 2023, it was quietly posted to GISAID, a site where scientists share the genetic sequences of viruses for research.
Professor Florence Debar, a researcher at France's National Center for Scientific Research, discovered the data in 2023 and quickly alerted other scientists. She is co-senior author with Anderson on this new study.
“This is a big piece of evidence to add,” DeBarre said of the new study, “because as data accumulates, all the results still go in the same direction, which is the origin of the wildlife trade in the Juan market.”
This research comes up Many important scientific papers By the same research team, published in leading journals, suggesting an animal origin for the covid-19 pandemic.
Anderson knows that many people will look at his name on the new study on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and immediately dismiss the findings. He says I don't care.
“You just look at the author list on the paper and say, 'Yeah, yeah, we can't believe any of this,' right? So we don't even need to read the paper,” Anderson said.
Anderson was one. The most famous leaders An international team of scientists is trying to understand how the global public health crisis began by sifting through scientific data collected in the first weeks of the outbreak.
Anderson has been the focus of government investigations and social media conspiracies that changed his mind: He first believed that SARS-CoV2 came from a Wuhan lab that was using similar viruses, then published a scientific paper explaining why the virus originated. The cause of the Covid-19 outbreak was probably transmitted from infected animals and then to humans – a phenomenon called spillover.
Animal shedding like this is how most outbreaks begin.
Supporters of Laboratory leak theory Consider that Anderson was pressured by top scientists at the National Institutes of Health to change his thinking.
Anderson says none of that is true. He just did what scientists do when presented with evidence that contradicts what they originally thought: He changed his hypothesis.
Debarre and she initially believed that the virus was obtained from a laboratory.
“Laboratory origin is a possibility. It should be taken seriously and we considered it a legitimate possibility for the origin of SARS-CoV-2,” Debar said.
Anderson said the first was known as a “lab leaker.”
“So we were all open to the idea of a lab leak, except for us scientists, and we'll go where the data goes. And so far, all the data and the different types of data all point in the same direction.”
Lessons from past epidemics
Understanding the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is critical not only to understanding what happened with Covid-19, but also to understanding how future epidemics may come our way.
Anderson said much has been done since the outbreak to improve lab safety and reduce the chance of accidental releases of dangerous viruses, but much less attention has been paid to the wildlife and farm animal trade, which still poses serious risks.
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“How much has been said about the uncontrolled wildlife trade in China, which is worth more than $50-billion in annual trade,” Anderson said.
Anderson found H.I.N. in samples taken from Huan Market.
He said it's a reminder that SARS-CoV-2 is not unique, not necessarily necessary. It was just a virus in the right place at the right time.
In the year The same scenario that happened in Wuhan in 2019 could be playing out now with the H5N1 bird flu virus on poultry and dairy farms in the US. “It's a game of chance” as far as the virus is spreading, he said.
While Anderson agrees that there needs to be more control over laboratory research on viruses, he says more attention should be paid to the animal market.
“We also have a big boogie monster in front of us, which is the unregulated wildlife trade,” Anderson said. “And this is not being discussed.”