Critically important! I’ve been saying since 1st wk of Jan that SARS-CoV-2 might have spilled over from bats to farmed wildlife then to the Wuhan market. This demonstrates that’s a viable pathway! reuters.com/article/us-hea…
In early Jan, we heard 40+ people were infected by this likely bat-origin CoV at the market. It was unlikely a single bat-to-human spillover happened at the market. I proposed that if a farmer brought infected animals, that were sold, killed, butchered, this could be the source.
There are thousands of wildlife farms across S. China w/ mixed wildlife (civets, mink, raccoon dogs, bamboo rats, porcupines etc.) & livestock (pigs, rabbits, ducks, chicken etc.). A perfect mixing vessel for a virus to emerge through. It is possible COVID-19 was in these farms..
Others agreed at the time @MarionKoopmans @DrMikeRyan. The virus may still be in farms in China and could continue to circulate. That's why cooperation on wildlife/livestock surveillance w/ China is CRITICAL right now.
Everyone in Europe or USA who bought a lovely winter coat with fur trim, you might be contributing to this. Much of the lower cost fur used in fashion trade is from farmed raccoon dogs etc. bred in SE Asia. Check your labels, avoid real fur, reduce pandemic threats!
A raccoon dog and other species tested in the wildlife markets in Guangdong were found infected with SARS-CoV or with evidence of infection in the original SARS outbreak. Details here: science.sciencemag.org/content/302/56…
