Origins of SARS-CoV-2
Researchers pinpoint multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2
Jonathan E. Pekar, a doctoral student in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology who co-led the project with Wertheim and is lead author, said the pandemic was likely looming for years, awaiting only for the opportunity when humans would come into contact with an animal host capable of transmitting the virus.
“Everything complicated happened before that introduction,” Pekar said. “The last step is just extended contact and transmission from hosts to humans. At that point, it would actually be unusual to only have one introduction. We’ve seen this before with MERS-CoV (a similar zoonotic virus). We’ve seen it with humans giving SARS-CoV-2 to minks on farms and then minks giving it back to humans.
“This has happened before, and it’s going to keep happening. Nature is a better lab than humans will ever be.”
