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VIEWPOINT: COVID-19
Science 373 (6558), 968-970.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh0117originally published online August 17, 2021
Spyros Lytras, Wei Xia, Joseph Hughes, Xiaowei Jiang and David L. Robertson
Trading of animals susceptible to bat coronaviruses is the likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic
Although first detected in December 2019, COVID-19 was inferred to be present in Hubei province, China, for about a month before (1). Where did this new human disease come from? To understand the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to go back to 2002. At that time a novel re- spiratory coronavirus appeared in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, and spread to 29 countries (2). Altogether ~8000 people were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) before public health measures controlled its spread in 2003. The zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV was subsequently linked to live animals available at markets. Further sporadic spill- over events of SARS-CoV from animals took place in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and some researchers working with cultured virus were infected in laboratory accidents (3), but ulti- mately SARS-CoV was removed from the hu- man population. Trading of susceptible host animals is an important common theme in the emergence of SARS and COVID-19.
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Science 373 (6558), 968-970.
DOI: 10.1126/science.abh0117originally published online August 17, 2021
Spyros Lytras, Wei Xia, Joseph Hughes, Xiaowei Jiang and David L. Robertson
Trading of animals susceptible to bat coronaviruses is the likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic
Although first detected in December 2019, COVID-19 was inferred to be present in Hubei province, China, for about a month before (1). Where did this new human disease come from? To understand the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to go back to 2002. At that time a novel re- spiratory coronavirus appeared in Foshan, Guangdong province, China, and spread to 29 countries (2). Altogether ~8000 people were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) before public health measures controlled its spread in 2003. The zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV was subsequently linked to live animals available at markets. Further sporadic spill- over events of SARS-CoV from animals took place in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and some researchers working with cultured virus were infected in laboratory accidents (3), but ulti- mately SARS-CoV was removed from the hu- man population. Trading of susceptible host animals is an important common theme in the emergence of SARS and COVID-19.
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