The mystery of the origin of the new crown virus remains a mystery

(Fighting new crown pneumonia) The mystery of the origin of new crown virus remains a mystery

China News Service, Beijing, March 14th (Bo Wenwen) Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia outbreak, there has been much concern about the origin, spread and mutation of the new crown virus. At present, experts of various countries have not concluded the traceability of the virus. The three major doubts surrounding the virus still need to be scientifically answered.

The source of the epidemic

The World Health Organization said in Geneva on February 28 that the origin of the new crown virus is still uncertain. Some of the initial cases in December last year were related to the South China seafood market, but other initial cases had no contact with the market.

Previous papers published in the international medical journal "The Lancet" showed that of the first 41 cases of newly diagnosed pneumonia, only 27 had visited the South China seafood market. The first patient who developed the disease on December 1, 2019 had no history of seafood market exposure.

"Maybe what happened in the South China seafood market in Wuhan was secondary transmission." Professor Walter Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Columbia University School of Public Health and infectious disease expert, said in an interview at the end of February. The virus is likely to have spread and the connection with the South China seafood market is not so direct.

Researchers at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions published a paper at the end of February saying that they analyzed the genomic data of 93 Newcomer virus samples from 12 countries on four continents and found that some of the haplotype genes contained in it were from outside the South China seafood market, confirming that The view that the new crown virus of the South China seafood market was introduced from elsewhere.

Intermediate host doubt

How did viruses enter human society from nature? To answer this question, we must first find an intermediate host, because it is the intermediate host that provides the virus with the opportunity to mutate and evolve and to reach humans.

The "China-WHO New Coronary Virus Pneumonia (COVID-19) Joint Inspection Report" released by the National Health Commission of China on February 29 shows that the new coronavirus is an animal-derived virus, and bats appear to be the natural source of the virus. Host, but no intermediate host has been identified.

The WHO said in Geneva on February 28 that pangolins may be intermediate hosts, but more research is needed.

Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa in the United States, believes that animals that are intermediate hosts of the new crown virus may come from outside China, such as smuggled pangolins and other animals.

Guan Yi, director of the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases of the University of Hong Kong and Professor Hu Yanling of Guangxi Medical University, said in a research paper published on the preprinted website bioRxiv on February 18. Coronaviruses with similarity to new coronaviruses ranging from 85.5% to 92.4% were proposed, and it was suggested that pangolins should be considered as potential intermediate hosts for this new coronavirus.

American factor doubt

At a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 11, local time, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was asked "Some people in the United States may have apparently died of the flu, but they may actually In New Coronary Pneumonia, he acknowledged that "this has been the case in some cases in the United States so far."

Last month, Asahi TV of Japan disclosed that the new coronavirus may originate in the United States, and that of the 14,000 deaths attributed to influenza in the United States last year, some were actually caused by neocorona pneumonia.

In addition, a petition posted on the US White House petition website "We the People" on the 10th of this month asking the U.S. government to publish the "real cause" of the sudden closure of Fort Tritker, the largest U.S. chemical weapon base, in August 2019 to clarify the experiment. Whether the laboratory is the research unit of the new coronavirus and whether there is a problem of virus leakage.

No matter where the virus comes from, scientific questions should be left to the scientific professionals. Michael Ryan, the head of the WHO health emergency program, said that any disease is likely to appear anywhere, and we need to understand the source of the virus in order to control the epidemic, rather than blame its geographical source for political stigma. . (Finish)