New paper published on pandemic origins
A paper co-authored with Crits-Cristoph and colleagues on environmental sampling at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic has been published: Genetic tracing of market wildlife and viruses at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe how metatranscriptomics data can be used to identify animals and animal viruses in Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Zach helped analyze statistical correlations in the data and commented on the manuscript for New Scientist:
Team member Zach Hensel at NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal, says the study highlights the preventable risks posed by the human-wildlife interface in Huanan market, and the need to mitigate these risks in similar locations. “Even though humans were, of course, everywhere in Huanan market and live mammals were concentrated in a small number of stalls, human viruses, other than SARS2, were rare and several animal viruses were quite abundant,” says Hensel. “This included one influenza virus with zoonotic spillover potential and an animal virus closely related to others that had caused devastating animal outbreaks.”
