Who really transmitted Covid-19 to humans?

Five years after the whole world came to a standstill due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is the veil being lifted a little more on the real origin of SARS-Cov-2?

Covid-19: Infected animals in the Chinese market of Huanan

While the WHO considered a laboratory leak unlikely, the hypothesis of a pandemic linked to a zoonosis, an infectious disease passed from animals to humans, seems to be confirmed. This is also the theory considered most likely by the FBI. Indeed, according to a new study published on September 19 in the scientific journal Cellthe available data highlight a natural origin.

On the other hand, the pangolin comes out of this new study whitewashed, and the list of other animals designated probable “intermediate hosts” is becoming clearer. Thus, the pandemic would have been triggered by the introduction of infected animals into the Chinese market of Huanan, in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. The international team of researchers, led by CNRS scientist Florence Débarre, has in fact analyzed in detail the genetic sequencing of the samples taken by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention at the market stalls just after it closed on January 1, 2020. This allowed it to identify several intermediate animal hosts between bats and humans.

Raccoon dogs susceptible to SARS

So, which animals are guilty of transmitting SARS-CoV-2 to humans? There are several: porcupines, used in traditional Chinese medicine, bamboo rats, whose meat is prized in China. But also the masked civet, a small mammal with gray fur present on the stalls of this market. Indeed, their DNA had been found in samples positive for SARS-CoV-2. However, this study does not irrefutably prove that these animals at the market were indeed infected. And this is even if the data studied demonstrate the presence in the same place of the genetic material of these exotic animals and the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The last exotic species that potentially served as transmitters of the virus: raccoon dogs. These carnivorous canines, which look a lot like raccoons, are in fact known for their sensitivity to SARS, according to the researchers. This animal, which originates from East Asia, is intensively farmed in China for its fur. Paradoxically, while their presence was confirmed on the Huanan market, these raccoon dogs did not appear in the 2021 WHO report. Conversely, no pangolins were detected among the samples from the market in question.

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