According to researchers, the first virus infection occurred at a seafood market in Wuhan.
Scientists from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Arizona , the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the Scripps Institute, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and other institutes said that the first cases of Covid-19 infection occurred in a seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The researchers published their findings in the journal Science.
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Scientists note that the seafood market was considered as a source of the disease in early reports of the outbreak of coronavirus infections. However, over time, this statement began to be challenged. In their own study, scientists found that this market was the geographic center for the first cases of the disease in December 2019, including those that were not officially reported.
Moreover, environmental samples that received a positive test for SARS-CoV-2, were associated with sellers of live mammals in this market.
The researchers point out that there is not enough data that can tell about the events preceding the infection, as well as the exact circumstances of the infection. However, the analysis shows that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 occurred as a result of the trade of live wild animals in China. The epicenter of the spread of the disease was the Huanan Market in Wuhan.
“All eight cases of COVID-19 detected until December 20 were registered on the west side of the market, where mammals were also sold,” the study said. Proximity to five stalls that sold live or recently slaughtered animals was decisive for the spread of the disease.
One of the authors of the study, Michael Vorobei, told CNN that his team mapped early cases of the disease that were not related to the market. It turned out that all these people worked or lived in close proximity to him.
“This suggests that the virus first spread among people who worked in the market, but then began to spread … into the surrounding area population when sellers entered local stores and infected people who worked in them,” Vorobei said.
Another study was able to trace the time frame of the appearance of the coronavirus. Scientists show that an early version of the disease agent existed in two versions, called A and B. They resulted from at least two cases of cross-species transmission to humans.
Researchers suggest that the first transmission of the virus from an animal to a human was probably occurred around November 18, 2019 and originated from lineage B. They only found lineage type B in people who had direct contact with the Huanan market.
Importantly! This publication is based on the latest and current scientific research in the field of medicine and has an exclusively general informational character. The publication cannot be the basis for establishing any diagnoses. If you are sick or need a diagnosis, see a doctor!
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