For the first time, coronaviruses that are genetically similar to the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen can be traced back to the illegal wildlife trade outside of China.

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society examined samples from 696 trafficked pangolins and civet cats.

All test material, which was obtained primarily with nasal and anal swabs from live animals, comes from samples of various wild animals that had been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade before July 2018.

The samples were taken by experts from the American epidemic program "Predict" in the "Save Viet Nam's Wildlife Rescue Center" in the Cuc Phuong National Park.

The samples of the civet cats came from five different animal farms and were also collected before the summer,

Joachim Müller-Jung

Editor in the feuilleton, responsible for the "Nature and Science" department.

  • Follow I follow

All of these archived samples have now been examined in professional laboratories using standardized procedures for four different pathogens that also have the potential to infect humans.

As stated in the publication in "Frontiers in Public Health", a test by the Charité in Berlin was used to identify the virus, which detects the E gene and the RdRp gene and shows genetic similarities with the Sars-CoV-2 to uncover the virus.

It turned out that all of the civet cat samples were negative, but the researchers found twelve of the nearly four hundred pangolin samples.

Genomes of corona viruses were found in seven anal and five nasal swabs from a total of seven pangolins from northern Vietnam.

which, at least with regard to the two genes examined, were very similar to the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen.

Extensive gene comparisons were not possible with the test methods.

The short gene sequences in the RdRp gene were most similar (more than 98 percent) to some finds previously identified in Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) in southern China's Yunnan province.

The scientists also researched the official entries by the authorities on secured illegal wild animal captures between 2016 and 2020. This showed how important Vietnam is for the smuggling of the endangered pangolin.

To a certain extent, the country is a hub for the international illegal wildlife trade in endangered rainforest mammals.

Of the 91 confiscations, 1,342 live pangolins, 759 dead specimens and a further 3,300 kilograms of pangolin meat and almost 44 tons of pangolin scales - mainly from African pangolins - were seized.

Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in many Asian and African countries, and the scales are said to have healing effects against rheumatism, stomach pain, inflammation and even blood cancer.