Coronavirus: Did Pangolins Spread the Virus in China?

Researchers in Guangzhou, China, have suggested that pangolins, often used in traditional Chinese medicine, are the probable animal source of the coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 30,000 people and is wreaking havoc worldwide. Scientists are saying that though the suggestion is plausible, it is yet to be established with facts and evidences.

“This is an extremely interesting observation. Although we need to see more details, it does make sense as there are now some other data emerging that pangolins carry viruses that are closely related to 2019-nCoV,” said Edward Holmes, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Sydney, Australia.

Arinjay Banerjee, a coronavirus researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, says that another crucial detail is where in pangolins the researchers found the virus — whether it was isolated from blood samples or rectal swabs. This will help to determine how it might have been passed to humans and how such transmission could be prevented in the future, believes Banerjee.

Scientists have been trying to decipher the identity of the novel Coronavirus, also referred to as nCoV-2019. “I can definitely believe it could be true,” said Kristian Andersen, an immunologist and computational biologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.