“We review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data,” they wrote. The resulting genomic sequence data have shown that Chinese authorities rapidly detected the epidemic and that the number of COVID-19 cases has been increasing because of human-to-human transmission after a single introduction into the human population.Īndersen and collaborators have used this sequencing data to explore the origins and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 by focusing in on tell-tale features of the virus. Shortly after the epidemic began, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and made the data available to researchers worldwide. As of March 17, there were 179,111 confirmed cases, and 7,426 coronavirus-related deaths, according to WHO figures. On December 31 of last year, Chinese authorities alerted the World Health Organization of an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus causing severe illness, which was subsequently named SARS-CoV-2. But unlike MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV, which can cause severe disease, “… HKU1, NL63, OC43, and 229E are associated with mild symptoms.” In fact, “SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans,” the authors wrote. A second outbreak of severe illness began in 2012 in Saudi Arabia with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). The first known severe illness caused by a coronavirus emerged with the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. Ian Lipkin, PhD, professor at Columbia University.Ĭoronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging widely in severity.
Garry, PhD, professor at Tulane University Edward Holmes, PhD, professor at the University of Sydney Andrew Rambaut, PhD, professor at the University of Edinburgh and W. Rather, said Kristian Andersen, PhD, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research and corresponding author of the published report in Nature Medicine, “By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes.” And as Andersen and colleagues concluded, the results “clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.”Īndersen is corresponding author of the team’s paper, which is titled, “ The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2.” Co-authors include Robert F.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute say their genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and related viruses has found no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is the result of bioengineering in a lab.
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