In recent days, incidences of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19 and monkeypox are rising. A new study suggests raccoon dogs as a reasonable origin for COVID-19. Read to know why.
Why are Raccoon dogs a source of the pandemic?
Raccoon dogs are spaniel-size dogs bred native to Asia. They are sold across China for their meat and luxurious fur. According to a study, they are one of the possible sources of the pandemic. It suggests they may have been an intermediary, catching the virus from bats. And then giving it on to people at the Wuhan market. A study led by 18 researchers from the University of Sydney linked the outbreak to up to 15 stalls in the market. The stalls were selling foxes, raccoon dogs, badgers, and bats. They believe residents in Wuhan were infected after contact with the animals being sold for their fur or meat.
“In addition to selling seafood, poultry, and other commodities, the Huanan market was among four markets in Wuhan reported to consistently sell a variety of living, wild-captured or farmed, mammal species in the years and months leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated the researchers. “There are, however, no prior reports of which species. If any were sold at the Huanan market in the months leading up to the pandemic. Here, we report multiple plausible intermediate wildlife hosts of SARS-CoV-2 progenitor viruses. Including red foxes, hog badgers, and common raccoon dogs, were sold live at the Huanan market up until at least November of 2019,” they added.
The study corrects previous false claims
David Robertson, a virologist and professor from the University of Glasgow, revealed to BBC News that he hopes this study will “correct the false record that the virus came from a lab”. The study published in Science tries to contradict claims that the virus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan. Former President Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, his Secretary of State were making similar claims. This began since the evidence was linking its origin to a lab in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “Most of the positive samples clustered around the south-western side of the market. And that’s the location where we report species like raccoon dogs being sold. So we have confirmation of animals we now know are susceptible were sold there in late 2019,” stated Professor Robertson.
Additionally, as per Stephen Goldstein from the University of Utah, this research is the “most compelling and most detailed study of what happened in Wuhan. Especially in the earliest stages of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic”. “We have convincingly shown that the wild animal sales at the Huanan Market in Wuhan are implicated in the first human cases of the disease,” he added. “Emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can likely be traced to one or more of the 10 to 15 stalls in the market. They sold live raccoon dogs, rats, porcupines, badgers, hares, foxes, hedgehogs, marmots, and Chinese muntjac. Health officials and researchers also detected SARS-CoV-2 on animal cages, carts, and drainage grates in these venues,” stated the Univerity.
In conclusion, they are urging governments to seek a better understanding of the wildlife trade and promote higher testing to reduce the risk of pandemics in the future.