Will we ever find COVID-19's 'Patient Zero?'

[admin]

Researchers have narrowed down the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 to a few weeks in the fall and to a few animal suspects.

Will we ever find COVID-19's 'Patient Zero?' : Read more

 

[Snorrie]

As the funding history and research Gain-of-Function goals associated with the SARS-Cov-2 virus and the "who did what and when" questions swirl around the world's political and bureaucratic establishments, it seems impossible that any "Patient Zero" or group of such will ever be identified; most likely they are long dead without attribution. The paramount objective for individuals remains getting the vaccine; Pfizer or Moderna appear to be the most effective.

 

[adam]

Finding patient zero may not be possible but understanding the evolution of the virus in humans is of great importance to limiting future pandemics and helping in finding effective treatments for Covid.

As the article says

"Even if scientists never identify a Patient Zero — the first person who fell victim and sparked a chain of infections leading to the pandemic — they may be able to determine what animals facilitated the leap and what human activities made it possible, experts told Live Science."

[Oxford] University said its Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WILDCRU) happened to have been working with its China-based colleagues in gathering data collected from across Wuhan’s wet markets through May 2017 and November 2019 to study a different virus.

Materials and methods
Serendipitously, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, over the period May 2017–Nov 2019, we were conducting unrelated routine monthly surveys of all 17 wet market shops selling live wild animals for food and pets across Wuhan City (surveys were conducted by author X.X.).

This was intended to identify the source of the tick-borne (no human-to-human transmission) Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), following an outbreak in Hubei Province in 2009–2010 in which there was an unusually high initial case fatality rate of 30%

Professor David Macdonald, director of WILDCRU said in a statement.

The University said its Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WILDCRU) happened to have been working with its China-based colleagues in gathering data collected from across Wuhan’s wet markets through May 2017 and November 2019 to study a different virus.

The study, published by Nature journal on Tuesday, said the team documented 47,381 individuals from 38 species sold as pets or for human consumption, including Badgers............. but not bats or pangolins

No Bats or Pangolins Sold in Wuhan Wet Market: Oxford Research

m.theepochtimes.com

Animal sales from Wuhan wet markets immediately prior to the COVID-19 pandemic - Scientific Reports

Here we document 47,381 individuals from 38 species, including 31 protected species sold between May 2017 and November 2019 in Wuhan’s markets. We note that no pangolins (or bats) were traded, supporting reformed opinion that pangolins were not likely the spillover host at the source of the...

www.nature.com

Page 14 - The coronavirus did not escape from a lab. Here's how we know.

Page 14 - For the science geek in everyone, Live Science breaks down the stories behind the most interesting news and photos on the Internet.

forums.livescience.com