A new genetic analysis adds to the evidence that the pandemic started in Wuhan, China Samples show the presence at Hunan Seafood Wholesale of animal species known to carry coronavirus The study is based on more than 800 samples collected by China’s CDC THURSDAY, Sept. 19, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The Hunan Seafood Wholesale wet market in Wuhan, China, has long been considered the most likely source of the coronavirus that caused the pandemic. That theory is now supported by a new study analyzing more than 800 samples collected in and around the market in January 2020 as the pandemic began.
Those samples show that animal species known to carry the COVID coronavirus were present in the market, according to results published Sept. 18 in the journal . “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,” said study co-author , director of infectious disease genomics with Scripps Research.
The common raccoon dog, a series susceptible to SARS-CoV, is closely linked to market wildlife stalls that contained SARS-CoV-2, researchers found. Genetic material from other species like masked palm civets, the Hoary bamboo rat and the Malayan porcupine were also associated with COVID, results show. “These are the same sorts of animals that we know facilitated the original SARS coronavirus jumping into humans in 2002,” said stud.