Explainer: How the Wuhan coronavirus jumped from animals to humans
Like SARS and MERS, the Wuhan outbreak evolved from coronavirus strains that previously affected only animals. Here’s how.
REALLY WANT US TO BELIEVE THIS
At least 10 cities home to 33 million people are in lockdown amid the spread of a new strain of coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, and has spread around the world.
Like the deadly SARS and MERS viruses that came before it, the Wuhan outbreak is believed to have evolved from coronavirus strains that previously only affected animals.
Novel coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, as the new strain is known, is classified as a zoonotic, meaning the first patient infected acquired the virus directly from animals.
Coronaviruses are not the only zoonotic diseases — HIV and ebola also fall into this category and biotectechnology company Gilead Sciences is conducting tests to see if an experimental ebola treatment called Remdesivir can combat 2019-nCoV.
SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is believed to have made a species jump from bats to humans via the intermediate host of farmed civet cats bred for human consumption, and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) from bats via camels.
The exact origin of 2019-nCoV is less clear but a controversial new theory published by Chinese virologists two days ago pointed the finger at snakes, although some scientists are sceptical the virus could jump from a cold-blooded animal to a warm-blooded one.