Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) have begun to study the role of ferrets badgers and rabbits in the spread of coronavirus on the market in Wuhan, China. British zoologist Peter Dassak, who participated in the WHO investigative mission, reported this to the Wall Street Journal.
According to him, the carcasses of ferret badgers were sold on the market – they were found in refrigerators. The animals were not infected with the coronavirus, but they were able to carry it. Rabbits, which can carry infection, have also been introduced to the market.
This version was confirmed by the head of the department of virology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, Professor Marion Koopmans. She pointed out that it is ferret badgers and rabbits that are believed to be carriers of the infection.
Earlier, WHO zoonotic disease specialist Peter Ben Embarek said that it was not possible to find out the circumstances of the virus penetration into the market in Wuhan due to lack of data. At the same time, experts found that the virus circulated widely outside the market. An investigation by WHO experts in Wuhan revealed new information, but did not fundamentally change the picture of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On February 9, it was reported that WHO experts worked out four versions of the transmission of coronavirus infection to humans – from an animal, an intermediate link, frozen foods, and also due to an incident in a laboratory. They were unable to identify the source of the coronavirus in animals. In the course of research, viruses related to SARS-CoV-2 were found among bats and pangolins, but the difference in the obtained samples was too great to suggest that these animals were the original source of the virus.
An outbreak of pneumonia COVID-19 caused by a new type of coronavirus was first recorded in December 2019 in Wuhan. Initially, it was believed that the source of the new infection was the seafood market. At the same time, the WHO stated that it did not have verified information that this market was indeed the source of the coronavirus.
