Similar accidents have already occurred: could the coronavirus come from the laboratory?



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Little is known about the origin of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. The pathogen comes from bats, that seems safe. But how did you get in touch with people the first time? The theory of a laboratory accident has recently received a boost. But how plausible is it?

Could it really be that a laboratory accident caused the coronavirus pandemic? United States President Donald Trump said last week that his government was trying to determine if the virus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, a provincial capital in China, where the disease spread. This possibility has already been speculated in the American media. But how plausible are these theories? And how could they be justified or invalidated?

What offers room for such speculation is the fact that nothing is known beyond any doubt about the origin of Sars-CoV-2. Huanan Market in Wuhan, where fish and wildlife are traded, has so far been the epicenter of the disease. But there are doubts about it: the first studies, for example, had found no connection to the market in 14 of the 41 patients with a crown. Furthermore, to date there is no evidence that bats were marketed on the market: the animals are, according to the World Health Organization, WHO, probably the original host animal. However, the bats in which the most closely related Sars-CoV-2 corona viruses were found live in the subtropical province of Yunnan, more than 1,000 kilometers from Wuhan in central China.

It is possible, but not unequivocally proven, that the pathogen has jumped into humans using another animal, such as the armadillo. But the armadillo trade is also not proven for the market. How did the virus get to the Huanan market if it was not through infected animals?

The researchers exclude the possibility that the virus develops as a biological weapon and spreads in a targeted manner after analyzing the Sars-CoV-2 genome. However, there is also the possibility that a laboratory employee, for example, may have accidentally infected you for the first time. And then, unknowingly, possibly triggered the pandemic outside of his workplace.

What is the evidence of the origin of the virus in a laboratory?
In the search for an answer to the question about the origin of Sars-CoV-2, two research facilities in Wuhan have also been focused, where it has been shown that bats are kept or where viruses similar to those used have been used. of bats: the Wuhan Institute for Virology (WIV) and the Wuhaner Center for Disease Control and Prevention (WHCDC). The WIV is about twelve kilometers from the Huanan market, while the WHCDC is about 300 meters in the vicinity of the market.

During WIV experiments, bat-like Sars pathogens combined with each other in such a way that they could suddenly attack human respiratory cells. The publication immediately sparked criticism from other researchers who described such research as risky, with a view to the possibility that the virus could “escape” from the laboratory. However, researchers believe that Sars-CoV-2 is not an artificially created virus.

The bats were maintained and examined at the WHCDC. This was pointed out by an article published in early February with the significant name “The possible origins of the Corona 2019-nCoV virus” by Chinese researchers Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao. “The killer corona virus probably comes from a laboratory in Wuhan,” the authors write. Reasons given include WHCDC’s proximity to the Huanan market and other evidence, which is largely supported by studies and media reports. For example, bats were dissected at the facility in the 2010s. An investigator is also said to have come in contact with the bat’s urine while working in a cave. However, author Xiao later told the “Wall Street Journal” that he had withdrawn the essay because his theses could not be “supported by direct evidence.”

Is it plausible that a virus accidentally enters the environment from a laboratory?
In the past, very dangerous pathogens were sometimes released in laboratory accidents. People were also infected and died. Famous is the 1978 smallpox accident in Birmingham, UK, in which a woman contracted smallpox virus from a laboratory and then died from it. In Germany, in 1967, the deadly Marburg virus was accidentally transmitted to several laboratory workers working with test monkeys from Uganda. In 2004 there was also a laboratory accident in China. And that, of all things, with Sars-Cov-1, the close relative and predecessor of Sars-CoV-2. At the time, two researchers at the laboratory were infected with the pathogen.

Are the safety standards in Wuhan laboratories high enough?
WIV has been certified as a laboratory with the highest level of protection 4 since 2015, the first and only laboratory in China. In such highly safe facilities, research can be conducted on dangerous pathogens such as smallpox or Ebola. The US Epidemic Protection Agency CDC recommends the second highest level of protection 3 to isolate Sars-CoV-2. The laboratories at WHCDC near the Huanan market comply with protection level 2. However, Sars-like viruses have not been shown to be used there. was.

However, a column in the Washington Post reads about questions about security at the WIV: US diplomats have expressed concern about security measures at the facility. A written communication from diplomats also warned that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses posed the risk of a new pandemic.

What speaks against the laboratory thesis?
The WIV categorically rejects rumors that Sars-CoV-2 may have escaped from the laboratory. The facility’s director, Yuan Zhiming, told Chinese media: “It is impossible for the virus to come from us.” The facility has strict control mechanisms and adheres to the guidelines. So make sure of this.

The institute’s chief virologist, Zheng-Li Shi, who also bears the nickname “Batwoman,” initially said that she herself feared the virus might come from her laboratory, according to “Scientific American” magazine. However, after analyzing the gene sequence, it became clear that Sars-CoV-2 was not one of the viruses his team had collected from bat caves in southern China, Shi said. At the beginning of the Corona outbreak, Shi had gotten into the firing line because of his work with the corona bat viruses, which is why he said on social media: “I swear on my life [das Virus]it has nothing to do with the laboratory. “

Germany and France also see no evidence of a laboratory accident. The federal government announced Friday that it was unaware of how the virus arose.

How can the truth come out?
There is no evidence that the Sars-CoV-2 virus has intentionally or accidentally escaped from one of Wuhan’s laboratories. On the contrary, however, it is not yet excluded. To substantiate or invalidate theories about accidental laboratory origins, transparency would be necessary for all relevant data and information, a fact that, according to scientists, is currently not the case in China.

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