Two peer-reviewed studies were published on Tuesday in the prestigious journal "Science" and generated great interest in the global science community.
The studies tried to trace the origins of the corona virus and decide once and for all whether it "jumped" from nature to humans through animals that were eaten, or whether it came from a laboratory experiment that went wrong.
One of the studies, which tried to map all the data surrounding the first outbreak in Wuhan, actually confirmed the theory that the exotic animal market in Wuhan, in central China, is where the disease broke out - meaning the animal came from animals.
The proof was obtained by mapping the identified cases, which according to the reanalysis showed a clear and statistically significant cluster in the market and its surroundings, and not in the virology laboratory in the city.
The second study examined genetic information collected over the past three years on the samples at the market stalls to create a timeline that would show how the epidemic broke out from the city to the world.
In both studies it can be seen that the outbreak came from the market to humans and that it took place in two variants beginning in November or December 2019.
The studies show that the virus was in the bodies of live mammals sold at the animal market in the city, the Huanan market, that year and it passed into the bodies of humans who worked or shopped in the complex in two separate "surfing cases", and from these two cases to the rest of the world.
The studies solved the mystery of why only about 50 cases of hospitalizations at the beginning of the epidemic had a possible connection to the market.
"What we know now about the virus sheds light on what happened: because many people only suffer from very mild symptoms, they actually transmitted the virus to others in the community, so it was difficult to link the severe cases," said one of the researchers, adding that thanks to the innovative mapping carried out in the study, it was possible To see that a significant percentage of those who at the beginning of the epidemiological investigation did not link them to the market as buyers or workers there, did live in close proximity to it.
The study even traced the samples taken by the authorities to the level of which market stall was sampled and where positive results were obtained for the fluids on them, thus actually using genetic components to locate which animals the fluids came from.
"Most of the cases of positive samples were in the southwestern part of the market, and that's exactly where the animals were in the style of raccoons and dogs, and these are animals that are more prone to being infected with the corona virus," said the researcher.
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