WHO experts named civetrers as mediators of coronavirus
The emergence and spread of the coronavirus in the world could be associated with the trade of wild animals in the market in Wuhan. This opinion was expressed by scientists interviewed by Bloomberg, writes RBC.
We are talking about the transmission of coronavirus to humans through the civet, or civet (a genus of small carnivorous mammals that live in the subtropical and tropical countries of Africa and Asia), which, in turn, could become infected from bats. According to this version, the bats came into contact with civets at the market in Wuhan, where the coronavirus was transmitted last, and then entered the human body.
Scientists make a reservation that this version requires further verification, since no infected animals were found on the market in Wuhan, and the first case of human infection with COVID-19 was recorded even before the outbreak of coronavirus on the market.
At the same time, WHO experts who visited China confirmed that animals were brought to Wuhan for sale from southeast China, where representatives of wild fauna, including civets, are bred on farms. It is also noted that the civet was brought from Yunnan province, where in 2013 a virus similar in structure to SARS-CoV-2 was detected in bats.
In February of this year, scientists suggested that Sars-CoV-2-related coronaviruses may be circulating in bat populations in many parts of Asia. Thus, a new virus, close to what causes COVID-19, was found in bats in the east of Thailand. The virus was named RacCS203, and its genome coincides with the genome of Sars-CoV-2 by 91.5%. It also turned out that it is similar to the RmYN02 coronavirus detected in bats in the Chinese province of Yunnan and coincides with the Sars-CoV-2 genome by 93.6%.
Previously, scientists have linked the emergence of COVID-19 with an increase in the species diversity of bats. Biologists from the UK, Germany and the United States have studied the mechanisms of environmental change in southern China, which, in their opinion, could lead to an increase in the number and species diversity of bats. It was bats that were named as the primary source of the rapid formation of new species and strains of coronavirus, including SARS-CoV-2.
