Sunday, 1 March 2020

Theory about origin of Coronavirus

Summary 

According to "Coronavirus: The race to find the source in wildlife", many researchers are trying to figure out what is the source of Coronaviruses by believing that the disease might be originally found in animals. First, bats and pangolins have become suspects of being hosts of viruses. It is believed that a bat might have a large array of viruses due to its behaviour. In contrast with pangolin, scientists claimed that virus found in pangolins seems quite similar to Coronaviruses. However, many people are not satisfied with these conclusions. Because the outbreak was started in a Wuhan wet market, it is possible that the infection might be spread from other species in the same market as well. Even though the origin of the disease is still uncleared, experts believe that stopping trading wild animals might be the best prevention.

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Response 

In late 2019, the Coronavirus outbreak started in China. Now over 80 thousand people are infected across many continents around the world. Because it was first discovered last year, the mystery origin of the virus has become a more interesting topic among scientists.

Because the outbreak started from a live animal market in Wuhan, many researchers believe animals might be the sources of the disease. According to Briggs's article, it seems people believe bats might be a host of the virus due to its behaviour. However, researchers are curious about the possibility that pangolins might transmit the disease to humans due to insufficient data. Therefore, the investigation for the source of COVID-19 has not concluded yet, and now scientists have to include other species as suspects as well.

According to the Coronavirus situation report from WHO (2020), "The new COVID-19 is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. The most likely ecological reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2 are bats, but it is believed that the virus jumped the species barrier to humans from another intermediate animal host. This intermediate animal host could be a domestic food animal, a wild animal, or a domesticated wild animal which has not yet been identified." (p. 2). With this piece of evidence, it reveals that Coronavirus might be a virus found among bats. For some reason, the disease just began spreading to humans; however, it is believed intermediate host is required.

 However, is it possible that humans might be directly infected from bats first? In "Antiviral use and the risk of drug resistance", WHO revealed that the immunosuppression was found in H1N1 patients who had taken the antiviral drug for a long time. With this piece of evidence, it can be inferred that this kind of medicine makes us exposed to the disease. As a result, people might be easier to get infected from bats and become a new host for viruses. With accessibility to human DNA, it is possible that viruses adapt themselves to survive in new habitat, human hosts, and become a deadly disease for all mankind.

Since the mystery of the virus source is not revealed yet, it is possible that the theory of origin of Coronavirus might be changed and discovered one day. Hopefully, this knowledge can be a benefit on virus prevention and treatment.
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Question

What is your theory about origin of Coronavirus outbreak?
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Reference

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1 comment:

  1. Peter.AUA1 March 2020 at 17:28

    As I read Wit's informative account I was reminded that we humans are not only animals, but are related to every other animal and living thing on the planet we share with the rats, roses, and bacteria, all of which are our relatives. If we were not closely enough related to them, we would probably be safe from the viruses that naturally evolve in other animals before jumping to us.

    And that reminds me that nature is not nice. Every disease that kills us comes from nature, just like earthquakes, forest fires and hurricanes. Of course, nature can also be soothing, relaxing and beautiful, but being natural clealry does not make anything good.

    And now I'm reminded of an idea that Mae's post about diamonds brought to mind, but I'll leave that for others to follow up. I hope.

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