Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122010295?via=ihub
Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo, Francisco A. de Ribera,
SARS-CoV-2 infection at the Huanan seafood market,
Environmental Research,
Volume 214, Part 1,
2022,
113702,
ISSN 0013-9351,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.113702.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122010295)
Abstract: The Huanan market harbored many of the early COVID-19 cases in 2019 and is a key element to understanding the origin of the pandemic. Whether the initial animal-to-human transmission did occur at this market is still debated. Here we do not examine how SARS-CoV-2 virus was introduced at the market, but focus on how early cases may have been infected at the market. Based on available evidence, we suggest that several early infections at the Huanan market may have occurred via human-to-human transmission in closed spaces such as canteens, Mahjong rooms or toilets. We advocate for further studies to investigate this hypothesis.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Huanan market; Epidemiology; Retrospective contact tracing
....
3. Discussion
...
Even if several early market outbreak cases may turn out to be explained by human-to-human transmission, we note that it remains unclear how the first person at the Huanan market was contaminated and whether the market was a site of animal-to-human contamination. However, taking into account the exact location of the early patients in the market can help to refine scenarios about the origin of the pandemic. The earliest detected case is located in a stall that is a few dozens of meters north compared to the presumed animal source hotspot highlighted in the recent Worobey et al. preprint (Worobey et al., 2022). If this patient was infected at the market by an animal, then either the place highlighted by Worobey et al. for animal-to-human contamination is incorrect and should be close to this first patient or this early case somehow contracted the virus around the distant stall highlighted by Worobey et al. Alternatively, this earliest case at the market was infected by humans and the initial introduction of the virus into the human population occurred earlier.
If a cluster of patients located a few meters away from each other had been detected at the market in the early days of the pandemic, it would be natural to suggest an animal source hotspot and animal-to-human contamination at the market. However, the first detected patients are relatively far from each other. We suggest here that they infected each other in common rooms such as toilets. Our analysis therefore decreases the possibility of substantial animal-to-human contamination at the market.
Virginie Courtier-Orgogozo, Francisco A. de Ribera,
SARS-CoV-2 infection at the Huanan seafood market,
Environmental Research,
Volume 214, Part 1,
2022,
113702,
ISSN 0013-9351,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.113702.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122010295)
Abstract: The Huanan market harbored many of the early COVID-19 cases in 2019 and is a key element to understanding the origin of the pandemic. Whether the initial animal-to-human transmission did occur at this market is still debated. Here we do not examine how SARS-CoV-2 virus was introduced at the market, but focus on how early cases may have been infected at the market. Based on available evidence, we suggest that several early infections at the Huanan market may have occurred via human-to-human transmission in closed spaces such as canteens, Mahjong rooms or toilets. We advocate for further studies to investigate this hypothesis.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Huanan market; Epidemiology; Retrospective contact tracing
....
3. Discussion
...
Even if several early market outbreak cases may turn out to be explained by human-to-human transmission, we note that it remains unclear how the first person at the Huanan market was contaminated and whether the market was a site of animal-to-human contamination. However, taking into account the exact location of the early patients in the market can help to refine scenarios about the origin of the pandemic. The earliest detected case is located in a stall that is a few dozens of meters north compared to the presumed animal source hotspot highlighted in the recent Worobey et al. preprint (Worobey et al., 2022). If this patient was infected at the market by an animal, then either the place highlighted by Worobey et al. for animal-to-human contamination is incorrect and should be close to this first patient or this early case somehow contracted the virus around the distant stall highlighted by Worobey et al. Alternatively, this earliest case at the market was infected by humans and the initial introduction of the virus into the human population occurred earlier.
If a cluster of patients located a few meters away from each other had been detected at the market in the early days of the pandemic, it would be natural to suggest an animal source hotspot and animal-to-human contamination at the market. However, the first detected patients are relatively far from each other. We suggest here that they infected each other in common rooms such as toilets. Our analysis therefore decreases the possibility of substantial animal-to-human contamination at the market.
