Origins of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 are often poorly explored in leading publications.

[Emily]

Full text at link.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cla.12425
Wenzel, J. (2020), Origins of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 are often poorly explored in leading publications. Cladistics, 36: 374-379. https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12425

Abstract

In the rush to understand the coronaviruses that threaten human health, authors of many prominent papers have not performed phylogenetic analyses to the standard of the field today. Errors include faulty placement of the root of the phylogeny, outdated methods of reconstruction, poor taxon sampling, inappropriate emphasis on selected functional elements, and inadequate consideration of ambiguity. As a result, certain conclusions regarding the origin of human infections are not supported soundly or are wrong.

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[JJackson]

A very good read I had not seen, thanks Emily.
I like that he points out there is no good data to support SARS-1 coming from Civets to Humans, rather than the other way around, also that there are far too few bat sequences to draw any meaningful conclusions about the sarbeco genome pool.

All legitimate peer-reviewed papers accept that this virus came from animal pathogens, probably as a novel combination of viruses found in different species, and is not manufactured. This virus has new features that promote binding to human cells, and therefore contagion and disease in humans is a new feature added to older viral elements. Where did the virus come from? If there are partitions of the virus with different histories, what are those partitions, and what are the histories? These are questions of phylogenetics and systematics, rather than medicine and virology. This article states the problem. We are still looking for a solution.

 

[Emily]

Thanks for reading this, JJackson. I think this is good, independent science. SARS-1 is still a mystery and so is
SARS-2. We have to be careful to avoid scapegoating again to have an easy answer to feed the public, even if the scapegoat is a human this time who might not be as sympathetic as the poor civet cat.