Scientists believe they have discovered the source of the virus which caused the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries ground to a halt, lockdowns were implemented and city streets became deserted as the SARS-CoV-2 virus rapidly spread around the world in 2019.
The World Health Organisation estimates the number of deaths in 2020 alone at around 3 million people, yet the source of the outbreak has often split opinion. The more commonly accepted argument is that is sprang from a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
However, other theories have ranged from a leak at the nearby Wuhan Institute of Virology, to it being deliberately distributed by another country. However, a group of scientists say that, through genetic analysis, they have identified a shortlist of wild animals being sold at the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan that were the most likely source of the virus.
While bats are thought to have been the original carrier of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, others believe that an intermediate wild species became infected and brought it to the market, leading to an outbreak. Stalls there sold live animals as well as seafood, the New Scientist reports.
The international team said the virus probably emerged from wild animals sold at the market. The researchers re-analysed data from 800 samples collected at the market by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention beginning on January 1, 2020, and also studied viral genomes from the earliest covid-19 cases.
Team member Ed Holmes at the University of Sydney said: “We analysed these data to determine which species were present and where they were found in the market, particularly in relation to where SARS-CoV-2 was found.”
The team found evidence for a variety of wildlife being sold at the market that could have been an intermediate host for the virus, including common raccoon dogs ( Nyctereutes procyonoides ), masked palm civets ( Paguma larvata ) and hoary bamboo rats ( Rhizomys pruinosus ). Traces of these animals were found in exactly the same stalls as SARS-CoV-2.
“This suggests – but does not prove – that the animals were infected. Hence, it is very likely that SARS-CoV-2 emerged in a live animal market,” Holmes continued. “All the scientific data point one way — to SARS-CoV-2’s natural zoonotic origin in the Huanan market, Wuhan.”
However, the team did confirm it could not rule out the possibility that the virus was brought to the market by an infected person handling animals.
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