In an article called “Scientists parse another clue to possible origins of Covid-19 as WHO says all possibilities ‘remain on the table’” written by Brenda Goodman, and published to CNN, it speaks about new information surfacing regarding COVID-19. This article was also written recently: March 17, 2023. The article states that, “A new analysis of genetic material collectedfrom January to March 2020 at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, has uncovered animal DNA in samples already known to be positive for SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19” (Goodman, 2023). Out of these samples, most of the DNA collected appeared to come from animals called “racoon dogs”. According to WHRO, it’s commonly known that these animals were regularly traded at that market.

This information came to be known “after Chinese researchers shared raw genetic sequences taken from swabbed specimens collected at the market early in the pandemic” (Goodman, 2023). Since then, those findings have been investigated, but the question of how the pandemic started has still not been answered. Brenda says, “They do not prove that raccoon dogs were infected with SARS-CoV-2, nor do they prove that raccoon dogs were the animals that first infected people” (Goodman, 2023). This information did suggest, however, that these racoon dogs could have been carriers of the virus. This has been suggested because it is known that viruses don’t survive well out on their own in their environment.

This article talks about how “Previous studies provided evidence that the virus likely emerged naturally in market, but could not point to a specific origin” (Goodman, 2023). It also states that, “Some US agencies, including a recent US Department of Energy assessment, say the pandemic likely resulted from a lab leak in Wuhan” (Goodman, 2023). This is also the topic of a scientific article that investigated the origins of the COVID pandemic. This article by Hao et al. delves into the two sides of the argument: a scenario of laboratory spillover events or human contact with zoonotic diseases. In the study, they “reviewed the transmission, pathogenesis, possible hosts, as well as the genome and protein structure of SARS-CoV-2, which play key roles in the COVID-19 pandemic” (Hao et al., 2022).

At the end of the CNN article, it speaks about how World Health Organization experts still couldn’t conclude whether or not the virus leaked from a lab or if it transferred naturally from animals to humans. This doesn’t align with the findings in the scientific article written by Hao et al. They concluded that “the coronavirus was originally transmitted to human by animals rather than by a laboratory leak” (Hao et al., 2022). The article by Brenda Goodman suggests that even though these findings aren’t definitive, they do point to China having more data than it has previously shared and how that data -if it is released- could help conduct the necessary studies to carry this investigation to completion.

References:

Hao, Y., Wang, Y., Wang, M., Zhou, L., Shi, J., Cao, J., & Wang, D. (2022). The origins of COVID‐19 pandemic: A brief overview. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 69(6), 3181-3197.