In the early 2000s, a coronavirus that originated in bats made its way into raccoon dogs and other mammals in southwestern China. Some of these animals ended up in markets, allowing the virus to leap into humans. This triggered the SARS pandemic, which affected 33 countries and resulted in 774 fatalities. A few months after its onset, scientists identified the coronavirus in palm civets sold at the market central to the outbreak.
In a recent study released on Wednesday, researchers examined the evolutionary histories of SARS and Covid, which occurred 17 years apart. They looked at the genomes of the two coronaviruses responsible for the pandemics, along with 248 related strains found in bats and other mammals.
Jonathan Pekar, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Edinburgh and one of the study’s authors, noted that the two viruses have remarkably similar paths. “To me, they are extraordinarily alike,” he commented.
Both Dr. Pekar and his team suggest that the virus jumped from bats to wild mammals in that same region of China. Shortly after that, wildlife traders transported the infected animals hundreds of miles into urban markets, allowing the virus to spread among humans.
“Selling wildlife in the heart of cities is a recipe for repeated pandemics,” remarked Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona and co-author of the study.
This study comes at a notably tense political time. Just last month, the White House unveiled a webpage titled “Lab Leak: The True Origin of Covid 19,” claiming that the pandemic resulted not from a market spill but from an accidental release in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
