New research shows it’s very likely the virus causing COVID-19 came from the now-famous wet market.
We’ve all heard many different theories circulating attempting to explain exactly where COVID-19 came from. Two of the most prominent include conjectures the virus was leaked from a lab in the Wuhan area of China or came from the area’s wet market.
There have been clear arguments on either side, making both stories believable. Official research is now pointing conclusively to the idea the virus slipped into us at the Huanan Seafood Market, even though the “exact circumstances remain obscure”. Here’s what’s being reported.
A peer-reviewed study says the virus was probably present in animals
Published in the journal “Science”, a study done by researchers from the University of Arizona and Scripps found it’s very likely the virus causing COVID-19 came from two animal sources. These jumped to humans from contact between these specimens and people at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan. It’s thought the virus was present in live animals sold there in the late months of 2019.
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The study revealed all eight cases of the virus detected before December 20, 2019 came from the western side of the market. It’s here that mammals are sold in addition to seafood. People in close proximity to five particular stalls that butchered live animals fell sick with COVID in very specific clusters around this time.
Cases that came a bit later but were still the earliest in the pandemic were in people who didn’t have a connection to the market. Nonetheless, these people lived or worked close to it. This, combined with molecular information, has been enough to convince some researchers the virus has a market origin.
Lab evidence
Molecular research shows also the earliest versions of the virus causing COVID-19 likely arrived in two forms of cross-species contamination. Since animals are kept in such close quarters in the Wuhan wet market, it’s not impossible to imagine more than one animal being sick with a related illness and infecting humans.
A recent CNN report reveals the first animal-to-human transmission of the virus probably happened around November 18, 2019.
Kristian Andersen, who was a co-author of the study and is a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research said he was convinced the virus was caused by a lab leak before conducting his research. But his thoughts have now changed.
“Based on data and analysis I’ve done over the last decade on many other viruses, I’ve convinced myself that actually the data points to this particular market,” he said. “It’s a real thing,”
Andersen says he feels it isn’t plausible that COVID-19 came to humans in any other way but through the wildlife sold for consumption.
What’s next? While it’s daunting work, researchers are saying the world needs to pull together to try to predict what virus may infect us next. We need to be ready to prevent it from blossoming into a pandemic. Until then, we still have COVID-19 to contend with as we move forward into the fall and winter.
photo credits: blickwinkel2511/Shutterstock.com
