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Febr 10, 2021
If the SARS-CoV-2 group originated in Southeast Asia, it could explain why humans in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam appear to be much less affected.
In November and December 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Cambodian authorities invited researchers from the Mus?um National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris to explore several sites in northern Cambodia. The goal was to study the biodiversity of bats near the Temple of Preah Vihear, and a large number of bats species were caught during this survey, including eight types of horseshoe bat (genus Rhinolophus).
They are of great interest for virologists, as they are the reservoir of all Sarbecoviruses, the group of coronaviruses that includes SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, respectively responsible for the SARS epidemic in 2002-2004 and the current Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, 10 years after the expedition, the samples stored in a freezer at -80?C were taken out and tested by the Institut Pasteur of Cambodia to look for Sarbecoviruses.
A PCR test showed two positive results and a full sequencing of their genome started. Two variants of a virus close to SARS-CoV-2 were discovered in two bats of the species Rhinolophus shameli we captured in 2010 in a cave in the province of Steung Treng.
If the SARS-CoV-2 group originated in Southeast Asia, it could explain why humans in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam appear to be much less affected.
In November and December 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and Cambodian authorities invited researchers from the Mus?um National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris to explore several sites in northern Cambodia. The goal was to study the biodiversity of bats near the Temple of Preah Vihear, and a large number of bats species were caught during this survey, including eight types of horseshoe bat (genus Rhinolophus).
They are of great interest for virologists, as they are the reservoir of all Sarbecoviruses, the group of coronaviruses that includes SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, respectively responsible for the SARS epidemic in 2002-2004 and the current Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, 10 years after the expedition, the samples stored in a freezer at -80?C were taken out and tested by the Institut Pasteur of Cambodia to look for Sarbecoviruses.
A PCR test showed two positive results and a full sequencing of their genome started. Two variants of a virus close to SARS-CoV-2 were discovered in two bats of the species Rhinolophus shameli we captured in 2010 in a cave in the province of Steung Treng.
The Covid-19 crisis taught the world that keeping immense numbers of small carnivores in captivity is a major health risk: viruses can spread and evolve rapidly in breeding facilities, potentially producing more contaminating or more dangerous variants. As pangolins and small carnivore species were frequently stored and sold together in wet markets, a “snowballing effect” due to interspecies viral transmission could be the last step in starting the human Covid-19 pandemic.
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