NYT learns of possible transmission of COVID from a raccoon dog to humans

The causative agent of COVID-19 could be transmitted to humans from an infected raccoon dog. This conclusion was reached by a group of virologists, gene specialists and evolutionary biologists from Europe, North America and Australia, writes The New York Times, citing a report that has not yet been published.

Experts analyzed smears taken at the seafood and livestock market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, from where the pandemic began at the end of 2019. Samples were taken from walls, floors, carts and metal cages after the government closed the market in January 2020. By that time, the animals that were sold there had already been removed from the shelves.

Raccoon dogs were sold illegally on the market, scientists believe. According to them, the spread of the virus began after the sale of one of them, which was infected.

In the samples studied, scientists found the genetic material of various animals, including raccoon dogs, as well as coronavirus, three specialists involved in the study said. However, they could not reliably establish whether the dogs were infected. Even if a raccoon dog were infected, it is not clear if the animal transmitted the virus to humans. The infection could have passed to humans from another animal or from it to a raccoon dog, the report says.

The first cases of coronavirus were detected in Wuhan in December 2019. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) did not come to the unequivocal conclusion that the city market was the source of the virus, but admitted that it became the center of distribution.

The organization investigated the origin of the infection together with the Chinese authorities , but in February 2023, work in this direction was suspended. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus urged not to exclude the version of the artificial origin of the virus and admitted that it could have spread due to a leak in a local laboratory. In Beijing, this version was rejected.

The origin of the COVID-19 pathogen has also been investigated in the US , UK and other countries.