‘He Goes Where the Fire Is’: A Virus Hunter in the Wuhan Market

Chris Newman, a wildlife biologist on the College of Oxford and a co-author of one of many research, stated that his Chinese language colleagues noticed a lot of wild mammals on the market on the Huanan market in late 2019. Any of them might need been accountable for the pandemic, Dr. Holmes stated.

“You possibly can’t show raccoon canine but, however they’re actually a suspect,” he stated.

Some critics have questioned how certain Dr. Holmes and his colleagues will be {that a} Huanan animal was responsible. Though lots of the earliest Covid circumstances have been linked to the market, it’s potential that different circumstances of pneumonia haven’t but been acknowledged as early Covid circumstances.

“We nonetheless know far too little in regards to the earliest circumstances — and there are possible extra circumstances we don’t find out about — to attract last conclusions,” stated Filippa Lentzos, an professional on biosecurity at King’s Faculty London. “I stay open to each pure spillover and research-related origins.”

One other drawback: If contaminated animals certainly began the pandemic, they’ll by no means be discovered. In January 2020, when researchers from the Chinese language C.D.C. arrived on the market to research, all of the animals have been gone.

However Dr. Holmes argues that there’s greater than sufficient proof that animal markets may spark one other pandemic. Final month, he and Chinese language colleagues revealed a examine of 18 animal species typically bought at markets, acquiring them both within the wild or on breeding farms.

“They have been completely stuffed with virus,” Dr. Holmes stated.

Over 100 vertebrate-infecting viruses got here to mild, together with a lot of potential human pathogens. And a few of these viruses had not too long ago jumped the species barrier — hen flu infecting badgers, canine coronaviruses infecting raccoon canine. A few of the animals have been sick with human viruses, too.

The only option to scale back the chances of future pandemics, Dr. Holmes has argued, is to hold out research like this one on the interface between people and wildlife. His personal expertise discovering new viruses has satisfied him that it doesn’t make sense to attempt to catalog each potential risk in wildlife.

“You could possibly by no means probably pattern each virus on the market after which work out which a kind of can infect people,” Dr. Holmes stated. “I don’t suppose that’s viable.”