Ann: Coronavirus Update, page-285

This maybe of interest as its today sourced from news.com.au about which animal it may have come from considering the Wuhan markets were selling the meat of wild animals in the meat and seafood part of the markets (bats for bat soup apparently).

BAT SOURCE:

Volutionary biologist Kristian Andersen of the US-based Scripps Research Institute has analysed segments of 2019-nCoV DNA to pin down its origin.

He told the AAAS that the condition of the virus suggests a single common source from as early as October 1. This means its introduction to the market by a human source was entirely consistent with the evidence

.Bats remain the number one suspect.They have a unique immune system which enables them to tolerate viruses. Combined with their ability to fly, this makes bats particularly effective at spreading disease.Which is why it is no surprise that the 2019-nCoV has a 96 per cent similarity to a wild bat coronavirus.

“There’s an ever-increasing diversity of animal coronavirus species, especially in bats. So the likelihood of viral genetic recombination leading to future outbreaks is high,” writes virology investigator Professor Burtram Fielding.“The threat of future pandemics is real as highly pathogenic coronaviruses continue to spill over from animal sources into the human population.”Dr Lucey says he believes the original transmission of 2019-nCoV occurred elsewhere in the food supply chain. “Potentially at one or multiple places in the supply chain of the infected animals, for example in one or more multiple markets, or restaurants, or farms, or with wild animals, legal or illegal trade.”He argues human and animal specimens collected during 2018 and 2019 must be tested for the virus or its antibodies. And all other animal markets must be put under observation to prevent retransmission from the wild.“There might be a clear signal among the noise,” he says.