4/13/20, 17*02 Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally | Science | AAAS Page 1 of 4 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/wuhan-seafood-market-may-not-be-source-novel-virus-spreading-globally Click here for free access to our latest coronavirus/COVID-19 research, commentary, and news. The Huanan seafood market in Wuhan has been widely considered the source of the outbreak of a novel coronavirus. But the virus may have infected people elsewhere Frst. REUTERS Wuhan seafood market may not be source of As conFrmed cases of a novel virus surge around the world with worrisome speed, all eyes have so far focused on a seafood market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the outbreak. But a description of the Frst clinical cases published in The Lancet The Lancet on Friday challenges that hypothesis. The paper, written by a large group of Chinese researchers from several institutions, offers details about the Frst 41 hospitalized patients who had conFrmed infections with what has been dubbed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV). In the earliest case, the patient became ill on 1 December 2019 and had no reported link to the seafood market, the authors report. “No epidemiological link was found between the Frst patient and later cases,” they state. Their data also show that, in total, 13 of the 41 cases had no link to the marketplace. “That’s a big number, 13, with no link,” says Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University. Earlier reports from Chinese health authorities and the World Health Organization had said the Frst patient had onset of symptoms on 8 December 2019—and those reports simply said “most” cases had links to the seafood market, which was closed on 1 January. Science's extensive COVID-19 coverage is free to all readers. To support our nonproFt science journalism, please make a tax- deductible gift today. Got a tip? 1K How to contact the news team Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Become a Member Log In ScienceMag.org Search Contents News Careers Journals
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4/13/20, 17*02Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally | Science | AAAS
Page 1 of 4https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/wuhan-seafood-market-may-not-be-source-novel-virus-spreading-globally
Click here for free access to our latest coronavirus/COVID-19 research, commentary, and news.
The Huanan seafood market in Wuhan has been widely considered the source of theoutbreak of a novel coronavirus. But the virus may have infected people elsewhere Frst.REUTERS
Wuhan seafood market may not be source ofnovel virus spreading globallyBy Jon Cohen Jan. 26, 2020 , 11:25 PM
As conFrmed cases of a novel virus surge around the world with worrisomespeed, all eyes have so far focused on a seafood market in Wuhan, China, as theorigin of the outbreak. But a description of the Frst clinical cases published inThe LancetThe Lancet on Friday challenges that hypothesis.
The paper, written by a large group of Chinese researchers from severalinstitutions, offers details about the Frst 41 hospitalized patients who hadconFrmed infections with what has been dubbed 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In the earliest case, the patient became ill on 1 December 2019 and hadno reported link to the seafood market, the authors report. “No epidemiologicallink was found between the Frst patient and later cases,” they state. Their dataalso show that, in total, 13 of the 41 cases had no link to the marketplace.“That’s a big number, 13, with no link,” says Daniel Lucey, an infectious diseasespecialist at Georgetown University.
Earlier reports from Chinese health authorities and the World HealthOrganization had said the Frst patient had onset of symptoms on 8 December2019—and those reports simply said “most” cases had links to the seafoodmarket, which was closed on 1 January.
Science's extensive COVID-19coverage is free to all readers. Tosupport our nonproFt sciencejournalism, please make a tax-deductible gift today.
4/13/20, 17*02Wuhan seafood market may not be source of novel virus spreading globally | Science | AAAS
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Lucey says if the new data areaccurate, the Frst human infectionsmust have occurred in November2019—if not earlier—because thereis an incubation time betweeninfection and symptoms surfacing.If so, the virus possibly spreadsilently between people in Wuhan—and perhaps elsewhere—before thecluster of cases from the city’snow-infamous Huanan SeafoodWholesale Market was discoveredin late December. “The virus cameinto that marketplace before itcame out of that marketplace,”Lucey asserts.
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The Lancet paper’s data also raise questions about the accuracy of the initialinformation China provided, Lucey says. At the beginning of the outbreak, themain oecial source of public information were notices from the WuhanMunicipal Health Commission. Its notices on 11 January started to refer to the41 patients as the only conFrmed cases and the count remained the same until18 January. The notices did not state that the seafood market was the source,but they repeatedly noted that there was no evidence of human-to-humantransmission and that most cases linked to the market. Because the WuhanMunicipal Health Commission noted that diagnostic tests had conFrmed these41 cases by 10 January and oecials presumably knew the case histories ofeach patient, “China must have realized the epidemic did not originate in thatWuhan Huanan seafood market,” Lucey tells ScienceInsider. (Lucey also spokeabout his concerns in an interview published online yesterday by ScienceSpeaks, a project of the Infectious Disease Society of America.)
Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at the Scripps ResearchInstitute who has analyzed sequences of 2019-nCoV to try to clarify its origin,says the 1 December timing of the Frst conFrmed case was “an interestingtidbit” in The Lancet paper. “The scenario of somebody being infected outsidethe market and then later bringing it to the market is one of the three scenarioswe have considered that is still consistent with the data,” he says. “It’s entirelyplausible given our current data and knowledge.” The other two scenarios arethat the origin was a group of infected animals or a single animal that came intothat marketplace.
Andersen posted his analysis of 27 available genomes of 2019-nCoV on 25January on a virology research website. It suggests they had a “most recentcommon ancestor”—meaning a common source—as early as 1 October 2019.
Bin Cao of Capital Medical University, the corresponding author of TheLancet article and a pulmonary specialist, wrote in an emailto ScienceInsider that he and his co-authors “appreciate the criticism” fromLucey.
“Now It seems clear that [the] seafood market is not the only origin of the virus,”he wrote. “But to be honest, we still do not know where the virus came from
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now.”
Lucey notes that the discovery of the coronavirus that causes Middle Eastrespiratory syndrome, a sometimes fatal disease that occurs sporadically, camefrom a patient in Saudi Arabia in June 2012, although later studies traced itback to an earlier hospital outbreak of unexplained pneumonia in Jordan in April2012. Stored samples from two people who died in Jordan conFrmed they hadbeen infected with the virus. Retrospective analyses of blood samples in Chinafrom people and animals—including vendors from other animal markets—mayreveal a clear picture of where the 2019-nCoV originated, he suggests. “Theremight be a clear signal among the noise,” he says.
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