How did the SARS-Cov-2 start?
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, predominantly spread from person-to-person, is described by the National Institute of Health, as the successor to SARS-Cov-1. It is believed to have zoonotic origins (disease transmission from animals to people by contact with or consumption of animals, animal products or animal derivatives) and has close genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses, suggesting that it emerged from a bat-borne virus. According to The Los Angeles Times, California shattered record with more than 11,000 new Coronavirus cases in a day. Many people have been affected and many have died from the virus, all around the globe.
Covid-19 arose in Wuhan, China in December 2019. First introduced to a human from an animal host. When a virus like this spreads, the number of people infected can quickly rise.
SARS 2 is similar to SARS 1, in virus transmission from bat to civet, a small, lean mammal native to tropical Asia. Civets sold for meat in local markets of China’s Yunnan carried SARS virus from bats to humans which resulted in viral outbreak and killed around 774 people.
MERS virus transmission was from bat to camel. It had been reported in 21 countries. MERS-Cov is one of several viruses identified by WHO as a likely cause of a future epidemic.
It seems that bat and animal transmission and animal consumption could lead to a world wide pandemic.
Here, in the video below, discusses pandemic influenza in the last century, today and in the future, discussed by Professor of Medicine, Lucy S. Tompkins at Stanford in 2009. She first reviews what a virus is, how it happens in the body, to an example of where Influenza starts, and pandemic of 1918 with some extra questions in the end. A very informative video for anyone to watch.
So what do we know about Wet Markets? According to National Geographic, Wet Markets are found throughout Asia, which sell fruits, vegetables, seafood, and meat. Still, most wet markets don’t sell wildlife, the terms, “wet market,” and “wildlife market” are often united. Wet Markets may sell wild animals and their meat. Like the Huanan Market, had a wild animal section of live and slaughtered sentient beings for sale: snakes, beavers, porcupines, baby crocodiles, along with other animals.
Looking at our past with viruses, close interactions with wild animals have caused numerous disease outbreaks in humans, including Ebola and HIV.
And until this year, most people had never heard of the term, “wet market,” until this new coronavirus pandemic. The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Wet Market in Wuhan, China is believed to be the cause of Covid-19.
Buying, selling, and slaughtering wild animals for food is one way an animal-borne disease may infect people. Viruses can spread more easily if animals in markets are sick or kept in dirty, cramped conditions, such as stacked cages.
When animals are in confinement, viral pathogens can intermingle, switch bits of their genetic code, and could mutate in ways that make them more transmissible between species.
In the case for respiratory diseases such as Covid-19, the virus can jump to food handlers or customers through exposure to an animal’s bodily fluids.
Reference:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/04/coronavirus-linked-to-chinese-wet-markets/