COVID Origins To Racoon Dogs Sold In China’s Wuhan: Report

An international experts’ team found evidence of spreading COVID virus from infected raccoon dogs that were being illegally sold at a seafood market in China.

Researchers have been baffled by the source of the COVID-19 virus ever since it swept the globe. 

The virus may have spread from sick raccoon dogs being sold illegally at a seafood market in Wuhan, China, according to evidence discovered by an international team of researchers.

In 2020, the team took swabs from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market and the surrounding areas and collected genetic data. 

The market had been shut down and the animals evacuated during the outbreak, so researchers collected swabs from the floors, walls, carts, and cages used to transport the animals, the report said.

The samples that were discovered to be infected by the virus carried genetic material from several animals, including raccoon dogs, according to a study of the samples. 

Scientists stated the findings indicated a situation where the virus spread from wild animals, even if this does not establish whether raccoon dogs were sick and if they transferred the infection to humans.

“This is a very strong hint that the market animals were affected. There is virtually no alternative explanation that makes any sense, according to virologist Angela Rasmussen, who participated in the study, who spoke with The Atlantic.

Three renowned researchers, Kristian Andersen, Michael Worobey, and Edward Holmes, were in charge of the analysis.

Chinese researchers published the genetic information on the public genomic database GISAID. Then, researchers from Europe, Australia, and North America downloaded it and examined it. 

The samples had previously been analyzed by the Chinese researchers who uploaded the data. However, their study claimed that “no animal host of SARS-CoV-2 can be deduced”. 

The study stated that the analysis revealed the virus discovered at the market may not have come from a wild animal being sold there, but rather from an infected human.

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Meanwhile, a recent study of the virus-bearing samples revealed animal genetic material that matched that of a domestic raccoon dog. 

The genetic information was “palpable,” according to computational biologist Alex Crits-Christoph. And this is the species about which everyone has been talking, he added.