Originally Posted by
Sherkeu
I've read conflicting things on this. Some assert that the pangolin is just a victim rather than a vector...but I am not knowledgeable enough to compare theories. They have a 2013 bat virus in Yunnan, and an early 2019 pangolin virus from a confiscation in Guangdong that are most similar to the human virus. What happened in late 2019 though remains unknown. That bat virus doesnt infect that pangolin and infected pangolins did not transmit to their human carers over months of close proximity (or so they said).
The lab in Wuhan created chimeras to replicate how it could jump to humans (paper was in 2015). They had animals there with in vivo experiments. Not much is said about that since the pandemic began. I take their word when virologists say they can tell when things are spliced into a genome, and that Covid has no evidence of it.
There are a lot of pieces missing. Might be too late to find them now.
This is fascinating.
I saw SARS from a distance but the
International Society for Infectious Diseases offered an incredible window. The
moderators are top experts in their fields and the contributions are from first hand medical professionals, journals and news reports when relevant. A lot of reports of mysterious clusters of fatalities turn out to be about a toxic exposure so you learn to take some reports of mysterious diseases with a grain of salt. But when it's a real alarm, it doesn't take long before we know it.
This was the first alarm about COVID-19:
UNDIAGNOSED PNEUMONIA - CHINA (HUBEI): REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Quote:
Wuhan unexplained pneumonia has been isolated test results will be announced [as soon as available]
---------------------------
On the evening of [30 Dec 2019], an "urgent notice on the treatment of pneumonia of unknown cause" was issued, which was widely distributed on the Internet by the red-headed document of the Medical Administration and Medical Administration of Wuhan Municipal Health Committee.
On the morning of [31 Dec 2019], China Business News reporter called the official hotline of Wuhan Municipal Health and Health Committee 12320 and learned that the content of the document is true.
It's a whole new world, we didn't have all this social media sharing in 2002-2003. Facebook and Twitter started soon after and when Facebook launched it was for universities. Information was however, readily shared via emails.
This is typical, nothing to see here folks, Chinese hospitals are the best in the world:
Quote:
The National Health and Health Commission has decided to send an expert group to our province to guide the epidemic disposal on the morning of [31 Dec 2019]. At present, related virus typing, isolation treatment, public opinion control, and terminal disinfection are underway.
On the evening of [30 Dec 2019], an "Urgent Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Treatment of Unknown Cause of Pneumonia" issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission circulated.
Here's a comment from the
moderator:
Quote:
[Having been involved in moderating the SARS-CoV (Severe acute respiratory syndrome - coronavirus) and the MERS-CoV (Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome - coronavirus), the type of social media activity that is now surrounding this event, is very reminiscent of the original "rumors" that accompanied the SARS-CoV outbreak. The exception is the transparency of the local government in responding to this currently undiagnosed outbreak. While this report does not contain the tweets, there have been numerous tweets about this as yet undiagnosed outbreak.
Returning to the rumor mill, the discussion of this outbreak (a cluster of 4 or 7 cases) involves an "atypical pneumonia". and now additional information of apparently 27 cases, with 7 severe cases. We do not know if influenza tests were performed, or if tests for the SARS-CoV are underway (but presumably are according to section [2] media report) in addition to other known (or unknown) respiratory viruses. As one of the tweets mentioned, another unusual pneumonia could be associated with infection with the bacteria _Yersinia pestis_ (plague) which has been diagnosed in Inner Mongolia in November 2019, but presumably has already been ruled out. The most recent report refers to the outbreak as a "viral pneumonia", suggesting bacterial agents have been ruled out. But has legionellosis been ruled out? or have viral panels been performed?
Here is the second report on COVID-19, 2 days latter, labeled (1).
Quote:
UNDIAGNOSED PNEUMONIA - CHINA (HUBEI) (01): WILDLIFE SALES, MARKET CLOSED, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Date: 1 Jan 2020
Source: South China Morning Post [edited]
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...iral-pneumonia
World Health Organisation in touch with Beijing after mystery viral pneumonia outbreak
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The World Health Organisation said it is in ongoing contact with authorities in China over an unidentified outbreak of viral pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, amid concern it may have been transmitted from animals.
Wuhan health authorities on Tuesday [31 Dec 2019] said 27 people - most of them stallholders at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market - had been treated in hospital, with 7 said to be in serious condition. Pathology tests were under way to try and identify the virus, officials said. Hong Kong medical authorities were also on alert.
Wuhan authorities ordered the closure of the market on Wednesday [1 Jan 2020]. Local media said the market sold other animals, including birds, raising concern after the 2002-03 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in China killed several hundred people and is thought to have jumped from animals to humans.
The market is now known to have been a super-spreader event.
We know the civet cat was the source but they are noting the SARS reservoir has not yet been identified:
Quote:
According to the WHO, the SARS coronavirus is thought to be an animal virus from an as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals and 1st infected humans in Guangdong, near Hong Kong, in late 2002.
Despite the
mod saying the local authorities were being transparent, they weren't completely.
Quote:
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Kunihiko Iizuka
[There continue to be social media reports on twitter and Weibo (the Chinese social media) on this outbreak without significant news on results of laboratory tests. Most recently there was a report of a suspected case of respiratory illness in Hong Kong in a traveler coming from Wuhan. Follow-up reports state the patient tested negative for SARS and avian influenza.