COVID-19 lab leak theory unlikely: Report
Researchers say the theory that COVID-19 is the result of the virus jumping from animals to humans is much higher than the much more prevalent laboratory leak.
In a critical review published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, 21 scientific experts from around the world presented evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be passed from an infected animal to a human at a live animal market in Wuhan, China. probability is higher. The novel disease resulted from a laboratory accident, a theory that has gained media attention.
“Discussions on the origins of the pandemic have become politicized and heated, and we thought the time was right to take a critical look at all the available evidence,” said Stephen Goldstein, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Utah Health.
According to the researchers, maps indicating the geographic locations of the first wave of COVID-19 cases in December 2019 show that they initially emerged close to the site of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, with live animal trade occurring in other markets. get informed.
In the weeks that followed, cases turned out to be geographically. Those cases were followed by extreme deaths in January 2020, a second marker of how the virus spreads through the population. Likewise, those deaths were initially localized near animal markets.
“It tells us where the epidemic began and where the rapid transmission began,” Goldstein said. “This suggests that the epidemic started in the markets of this district: Huanan market and possibly other markets as well.”
On the other hand, the evidence for laboratory leakage is lacking. The researchers said the Wuhan Institute of Virology is often cited as the source of the slab leak, far from the live animal markets from which the first cases emerged.
Furthermore, there are no signs of man-made changes in the virus, the researchers said.
A recurring argument for the laboratory leak theory is that the virus, SARS-CoV-2, carries a specific short genetic code that is sometimes engineered into laboratory products, called a furin cleavage site.
To investigate, researchers have previously analyzed genetic sequences from several coronaviruses and found common codes among them. The team further determined that the specific code in SARS-CoV-2 is incomplete and therefore would not perform its function well.
“There is no logical reason why an engineered virus would use such a sub-optimal furin cleavage site to achieve such an unusual and unnecessarily complex feat of genetic engineering,” the researchers said.
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