Humans likely got the deadly Chinese coronavirus from SNAKES sold at the Wuhan market, study suggests
*Huanan Seafood Market in China is in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak
*Chinese officials said the virus may have originated in an animal at the market
*Different strains of viruses carry proteins that let them effect certain species
*When viral genes combine and mutate, new strains can gain access to previously unaffected species
*Peking University researchers analyzed RNA from hundreds of coronavirus strains and compared them to the new one
*It appears to be a combination of a virus that infects bats and a mystery strain
*A
version that infects snakes was a close match, suggesting that serpents
sold at the market acted as a 'reservoir' and passed the virus to
humans
Researchers at Peking University believe that
2019-nCoV, the SARS-like coronavirus that's infected more than 500
people worldwide and killed 17, is made up of a combination of one that
affects bats and another, totally unknown coronavirus.
They
think genetic material from the two recombined, picked up a protein that
lets viruses bind to certain host cells - including those of humans.
When
they analyzed the genes of strains affecting various host animals, the
team found that snakes were susceptible to the most similar version of
the coronavirus, and likely provided a 'reservoir' for the viral strain
to grow stronger and replicate.
Sold alongside a menagerie the
included live koalas, rats and wolf pups at the Huanan Seafood Market in
central Wuhan - now thought to be the outbreak's epicenter - snakes
likely then served as the jumping-off point for the virus to begin
infecting humans.
