Genetic tracing at the Huanan Seafood market further supports COVID animal origins

A new study provides a list of the wildlife species present at the market from which SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, most likely arose in late 2019. The study is based on a new analysis of metatranscriptomic data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention .

"We have analyzed, in new and rigorous ways, the vitally important data that the Chinese CDC team collected," says co-corresponding author Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona."This is an authoritative analysis of that data and how it fits in with the rest of the huge body of evidence we have about how the pandemic started."

"Many of the key animal species had been cleared out before the Chinese CDC teams arrived, so we can't have direct proof that the animals were infected," Débarre says."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.

"In this paper, we show that the sequences linked to the market are consistent with a market emergence," Débarre says."The main diversity of SARS-CoV-2 was in the market from the very beginning." The investigators stress the importance of understanding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in light of other recent spillovers, such as the spread of avian flu viruses in cattle in the United States."There has been a lot of disinformation and misinformation about where SARS-CoV-2 originated," Worobey says."The reason it's so important to find out is that this affects national security and public health, not just in the United States but around the world.

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