New studies bolster theory coronavirus emerged from the wild

The theory that the coronaviruses emerged in the wild rather than escaping from a Chinese lab is supported by two new studies.

The research, published online Tuesday by the journal Science, shows that the early epicenter of the disease was the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. The scientists think that the virus that causes COVID-19 may have spilled from animals into people.

"All this evidence tells us the same thing: It points right to this particular market in the middle of Wuhan," said Andersen, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research. I was quite sure of the lab leak, until we looked at it more closely.

A University of Arizona evolutionary biologist and his colleagues used mapping tools to estimate the locations of more than 150 of the earliest reported COVID-19 cases from December 2019. They used data from a social media app to map cases from January and February 2020.

They wanted to know where the early cases lived. When we looked at it, there was a pattern where the highest density of cases was very close to the market. It's important to note that this applies to all cases in December and also to cases with no known link to the market.

Andersen said they found case clusters inside the market, too, and that clustering is very specific in the parts of the market where they now know people were selling animals that are vulnerable to the coronaviruses.

Scientists analyzed the genomic diversity of the virus inside and outside of China starting with the earliest sample genomes in December and ending in February 2020. They found that there were two different lineages that marked the start of the epidemic. According to the study, lineage A is more similar to bat coronaviruses, but lineage B seems to have begun spreading earlier in humans.

It sounds like I just said that there was a once-in-a- generation event. There were certain conditions that were in place, such as people and animals in close proximity and a Viruses that can spread from animals to people and from person to person He said that the barriers to spillover should be expected.

Scientists think the virus jumped from bats to humans. In June, the World Health Organization recommended a deeper investigation into a lab accident. The lab leak theory was dismissed by the WHO too quickly.

Is the lab leak theory still valid? Andersen denied that they had. It is important to understand that possible does not mean equally likely, and that is what is important here.

The origin of the Pandemic remains controversial. Some scientists think a lab leak is more likely, while others don't think so. Matthew Aliota is a researcher in the college of veterinary medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Aliota said that both of the studies provided compelling evidence for the natural origin hypothesis. It's as close to a smoking gun as you could get since sampling an animal that was at the market is impossible.

That's right.

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