The discovery of a new wild coronavirus that has the same strange mutation as Covid-19 is seen by some scientists as proof that Sars-CoV-2 was not created in a laboratory.
Researchers in China have found another bat coronavirus that has a furin cleavage site – the part that made Covid-19 so good at infecting humans.
Furin has been at the center of the debate about the origin of Covid-19, with some experts claiming that it can only be obtained through laboratory experiments.
Since then, studies have shown that wild coronaviruses can adopt the structure naturally – but the newly discovered virus has another random quirk.
The virus – known as TyRo-CoV-162275 – is 98 percent identical to the coronaviruses found in pangolins, the animal long suspected of transmitting Covid-19 to humans.
In the newly published study, which was actually carried out between 2016 and 2017, scientists collected samples from twenty different bat species in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces – 1,500 kilometers and 1,000 kilometers respectively from the Covid-19 pandemic epidemic epicenter , Wuhan.
Critics of the so-called “lab leak theory” saw the discovery as proof of the concept that Covid-19-like viruses emerge in nature and are transmitted between species.
Dr. Kristian Andersen, a leading Danish expert on infectious diseases, shared the new research
Although he admitted in messages obtained by DailyMail.com that the lab leak was “highly likely”, Dr. Andersen’s theory public.
He was impeached before Congress in July and accused of misleading the public and concealing knowledge of poor practices at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a bat-coronavirus laboratory located just a few kilometers from the first Covid -19 cases are located in China. tinkered with similar viruses in the years before the pandemic.
Although there is no direct evidence in either case, there are two camps when it comes to the emergence and spread of Covid-19.
Many scientists, the FBI and the Department of Energy believe that the virus accidentally escaped from the WIV.
Others, including former White House doctor Anthony Fauci, believe the virus originated in bats, was transferred to an intermediate animal — possibly pangolins — and then spread to humans.
In the recently published study, which was actually carried out between 2016 and 2017, scientists from various academies of zoology and science in China collected samples from twenty different bat species in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces – 1,500 kilometers and 1,000 kilometers respectively from the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak area removed. or epicenter of Wuhan.
The strain of coronavirus found in pangolins – the animals first blamed for transferring the coronavirus from bats to humans – was found to be almost identical to the genetic makeup of the strain infecting humans, suggesting that the animal is a mutated version that has been passed on to humans.
The scientists found that nine bat species were carriers of 58 bat coronaviruses and were able to obtain the complete genomes of two of the viruses.
In a larger bamboo bat, the experts discovered TyRo-CoV-162275, a strain closely related to the group of bat MERS-like coronaviruses that circulate in pangolins, the rare animal believed to be the intermediary that transmits Covid from bats to transferred people.
The second strain for which they were able to obtain a complete genome was TyRo-CoV-162269, which they say is closely related to another type of bat coronavirus.
The article was published in the journal Virologica Sinica, which is led by Shi Zhengli – also known as the “Bat Lady” or “Bat Woman” for her work on bat coronaviruses at WIV.
Scientists who were not involved in the study and believe Covid probably arose naturally, told DailyMail.com that the findings were “a new building block” that helped strengthen the argument for a natural origin.
Dr. Lawrence Young, virologist at Warwick University in Great Britain, said: “There are a number of studies now suggesting that Covid has a natural origin and most of us believed from the beginning that if we looked hard enough we would eventually find something that looked like one precursor to Covid seem.”
He added: “There is mounting evidence to support the spillover.” What is important is that we learn as much as we can to develop a pan-Covid vaccine.
“But like many things, this will remain controversial and we will never know the origin of Covid with 100% certainty – but that’s science anyway.”
Shi Zhengli – also known as the “Bat Lady” or “Bat Woman” because of her work on bat coronaviruses – works at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
In the photo: the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where important data was deleted by Chinese scientists
But other scientists were not convinced and instead pointed out that the virus detected was not even closely related to the SARS viruses, which also include Covid.
REVEALED: MONTANA lab led by Anthony Fauci experimented with coronavirus strains imported from Wuhan a year BEFORE the Covid pandemic began
Investigations have found that US taxpayer money was used to experiment with coronaviruses from the Chinese laboratory believed to be the source of the Covid pandemic more than a year before the global outbreak.
‘The [new] “The study does not provide any – any – new information relevant to the origin of SARS-CoV-2,” said Dr. Richard Ebright, a chemical biologist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, told DailyMail.com.
“The two viruses sequenced in the study are not SARS-related coronaviruses.” [and] is not among the many hundreds of known viruses thought to be related to SARS [viruses].’
“The viruses found in the bats were the merbecovirus and the nyctacovirus.” These are not SARS-related coronaviruses such as Covid-19, but belong to other groups of coronaviruses.”
Dr Ebright added that while “hundreds” of Covid-like viruses could occur naturally, this study could not explain why they were only hundreds of kilometers away from Wuhan, a bustling metropolis of more than 8 million people.
He believes the precursor to Covid was shipped to Wuhan by WIV scientists and then experimented on.
He pointed out that in 2018 the WIV proposed to implant coronaviruses with furin cleavage sites.
Proponents of natural origins generally believe that Covid jumped to humans via an intermediate animal sold at a now infamous wet market in Wuhan.
The new report comes amid the spread of a new mysterious pneumonia in Chinese schools.
Hospitals in Beijing and 800 kilometers northeast of Liaoning were “overflowing with sick children” and showing unusual symptoms, including pneumonia and high fever.
Scientists are now demanding transparency from China about the mysterious disease – which bears frightening similarities to the early Covid outbreak.
Source link
Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
