China has withheld information about the possible natural origin of the virus. The WHO calls the lack of transparency “inexcusable”.
The Huanan market in the middle of the metropolis of Wuhan was at the center of the first corona outbreak: “The cases that are known are all around this market,” says Bernese virologist Volker Thiel. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he has been researching the coronavirus.
Accidental data discovery, great gain in knowledge
Now so-called environmental samples have appeared. The genetic data that can be read from these samples were available online for a short time on the research server GISAID, uploaded by Chinese researchers from the local epidemic institute CCDC. The French researcher Florence Débarre discovered it on the server rather by chance, and then evaluated it with colleagues.
I would be surprised if China itself does not want to know where the infections come from.
These are samples that were taken three years ago, right after the outbreak of the pandemic, in Huanan Market: swabs from walls, cages, in drains, so-called environmental samples. Now it is clear: China has been withholding this revealing data all along and from the world.
The WHO now reacts unusually clearly in the journal “Science”, calls for more transparency, and condemns the lack of it. “I can imagine that the WHO feels led around by the nose,” says Thiel. And further: “It would surprise me if China does not want to know for itself where the infections come from.”
You still don’t know everything
China is a modern research country and has the technical capabilities and knowledge to search for information in the right place with the right methods. From the point of view of virology, it is almost a matter of course where it is worth looking. Thiel says: “I can’t know for sure, but I think they have taken other samples besides these that we don’t know about yet.”
On live animals at the market, for example, on farms in the outskirts of the city. Thiel: “And if there is a suspicion that the virus was on certain farms, how did it get there?” Connections to wildlife must be clarified, Thiel continued.
I can imagine that the WHO is very disappointed.
The WHO now emphasizes, at least between the lines, that China can hardly pretend that there are no relevant samples at all these obvious places and times. “It’s unusually clear. And I can also imagine that the WHO is very disappointed. It was probably thought that China was relatively open,” says Thiel. However, this does not seem to be the case.
“The virus was there”
The WHO also emphasizes that key details are still missing about the work being done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The call for China to cooperate transparently with other countries and the WHO is therefore aimed at both possible starting points for the pandemic: the market and the laboratory.
The current state of knowledge, however, can be summarized as follows: “We have clear evidence that the virus was on this market. We also know that the animals that are susceptible to the virus were also there,” says virologist Thiel.
News
The Surprising Origin of a Deadly Hospital Infection
C. diff might not originate from external transmission but rather from within the infected patient themselves. Hospital staff dedicate significant effort to safeguard patients from infections during their hospital stay. Through practices ranging from [...]
Google AI breakthrough – huge step in finding genes that cause diseases
Google says it has made a significant step in identifying disease-causing genes, which could help spot rare genetic disorders. A new model named AlphaMissense is able to confidently classify 89 per cent of all [...]
New Study: Everyday Pleasures Can Boost Cognitive Performance
MINDWATCH study reveals cognitive peaks with everyday pleasures. Listening to music and drinking coffee are the sorts of everyday pleasures that can impact a person’s brain activity in ways that improve cognitive performance, including [...]
Moderna reveals new highly targeted COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1283
Moderna has developed a new and improved version of its COVID-19 vaccine. The unique formulation (mRNA-1283) reduces the vaccine's content from the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to a narrowly focused encoding of just two [...]
New nanotech weapon takes aim at hard-to-treat breast cancer
Breast cancer in its various forms affects more than 250,000 Americans a year. One particularly aggressive and hard-to-treat type is triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which lacks specific receptors targeted by existing treatments. The rapid [...]
Scientists upcycle plastics into liquids that can store hydrogen energy
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a process that can upcycle most plastics into chemical ingredients useful for energy storage, using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available catalyst, all [...]
Yale Scientists Uncover How the Immune System Can Alter Our Behavior
The mere scent of seafood can severely sicken those allergic to it — and therefore they are more likely to avoid it. Similarly, individuals who experience food poisoning from a specific dish tend to [...]
Whirlwind Tech – The Future of Energy-Efficient Spintronics Computing
Researchers in Germany and Japan have been able to increase the diffusion of magnetic whirls, so-called skyrmions, by a factor of ten. In today’s world, our lives are unimaginable without computers. Up until now, [...]
Omicron’s Silver Lining: Significantly Lower Risk of Long COVID
Omicron infections have a lower risk of long COVID than earlier variants, according to a study analyzing data from 11,000 participants. The risk of developing long COVID is significantly lower following an infection with [...]
The Hidden Mechanism Connecting Diabetes and Cancer
Researchers have discovered that insulin resistance, typically linked with type 2 diabetes, is also present in cancer patients and can accelerate the spread of the disease. In the 1920s, scientists found that the urine [...]
Scientists Unveil Urea’s Secret Role in the Origin of Life
Scientists from ETH Zurich and the University of Geneva have developed a new technique that allows them to observe chemical reactions taking place in liquids at extremely high temporal resolution. This innovation enables them to track how molecules [...]
Viagra Lowers Alzheimer’s Risk by Almost 70%, Early Study Finds
Research published recently suggests that Pfizer’s erectile dysfunction drug Viagra can decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by up to 69 percent. The research, which was published in Nature, found that the medication has [...]
Future of Medical Imaging: Advanced AI Can Tell Your True Age by Looking at Your Chest
An AI-powered model utilizes chest X-rays to help develop biomarkers for aging. What if determining “your age” was based on your chest rather than your face? Scientists from Osaka Metropolitan University have crafted an [...]
Ultra-sensitive biosensors detect cancer in a blood test
Cancer biomarkers circulating in body fluids can be used for diagnosis and treatment monitoring. However, current detection technology lacks the required sensitivity, limiting biomarker use in clinical applications. Colorectal cancer is the second most [...]
Viruses cause 200+ diseases. This one drug may be able to treat them all.
By taking aim at a process common across many viruses, the drug could one day stop any number of known viruses — and new ones. t’s about as audacious an idea as you can [...]
Scientists Identify Potential Treatment for Rare and Devastating Lung Disease
The findings could lead to a cure for LAM. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati may have identified a potential treatment for lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), a rare lung condition resembling cancer found predominantly in women of reproductive [...]
