Analysis: Raccoon dogs have transmitted the coronavirus

According to The Atlantic magazine, scientists had stumbled upon previously unknown Chinese data from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. This is associated with the first corona outbreak. The genetic sequences were obtained from smears taken at and near market stalls at the start of the pandemic.

A few days ago, researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered the open access database of GISAID (a global scientific initiative promoting free access to genomic data of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses; NB) and analyzed by scientists in Europe, North America and Australia – almost by accident.

“The preliminary result strongly supports the assumption I’ve had since the beginning of the pandemic of an origin in raccoon dogs – krone.at reported in late April 2020 – or other carnivores (meat eaters, note) such as civets,” Drosten said.

According to The Atlantic, a review led by virus experts Kristian Andersen, Edward Holmes and Michael Worobey revealed that several market samples that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 also contained animal genetic material — often from raccoon dogs, a common species on fur farms that kept fox relatives. .

An extensive investigation will follow soon
“These are preliminary evaluations of Chinese raw data. An extensive investigation by the scientists who are actually involved in the research will certainly follow soon,” explains Drosten. The new findings are likely to reignite debate over the origins of the coronavirus. There’s also the theory of a lab glitch as a possible origin.

The theory that the coronavirus jumped from wild animals to humans, traded in the Wuhan market in 2019, has been floating around since the start of the pandemic. One reason was the existing knowledge about the first SARS virus, which was also the case, Drosten explains. A natural origin from one of the named animal groups was the most likely explanation from the start.

The fact that the virus and the mammalian genetic material now analyzed were so intimately mixed — enough to be extracted from a single swab — is not perfect evidence, Emory University virologist Seema Lakdawala tells The Atlantic. It is an important step, but it does not have the same value as if SARS-CoV-2 had been detected directly in a raccoon dog or in the mammal virus sample sold in Wuhan at the time of the outbreak.

Data is inconclusive
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Friday: “These data don’t give us a definitive answer on how the pandemic started, but any information is important to get closer to that answer.”

The WHO chief criticized China’s information policy. “This data could have been available three years ago, and it should have been. We again call on China to be transparent in providing data and we call on China to conduct the necessary investigations and report the results.”

The material that was temporarily available on GISAID has now been removed by China – why, you have to ask the Chinese GGD, said corona expert Maria van Kerkhove in Geneva. According to them, the data proves that raccoon dogs were traded in the market. This had been previously assumed, but never confirmed.

Keep an open mind about where the animals come from, be it farm animals or wild ones. It should also be emphasized that the virus has not been detected in an animal itself.