New Data Shows Link to Racoon Dogs

Even the source of the corona virus has become a political debating point in hyperpartisan Washington, DC. The intelligence agencies are divided on the issue. The Department of Energy concluded with "low confidence" that the virus escaped from a lab. The FBI supports the same theory. Conservatives would love to pin the blame for the highly disruptive pandemic on China.  A virology lab in Wuhan is known to have conducted experiments with bat coronaviruses.  Nevertheless, US Person agrees with Dr. Faci that the virus was not a lab leak or a bioweapon. New genetic data from the infamous Wuhan wet market shows raccon dog (N. procyonoides) DNA comingled with the virus genome indicating that the virus probably came from a natural source. Previously it was thought that the virus might have passed through pangolins also sold at the market. The WHO cautioned that the new data is not definitive, but it sheds more light on the virus' origin. It also criticized China for not supplying the information three years ago. 

The new analysis based on previously unavailble Chinese sources has not yet been peer reviewed. Study samples were collected from surfaces at the Huanan Seafood Market. A Utah University virologist, who has looked at the data, told media that the discovery fits the scenario of a zoonotic spillover in which animals infected with the virus left traces of their DNA. Raccoon dogs are bred for their fur in Asia. The coronavirus causing COVID-19 that killed 7 millions is remarkably similar to coronaviruses found in bats. A majority of scientists who support a natural source hypothesis, think the virus reservoir in bats found its way into humans via an animal vector. The wet market where animals are slaughtered and come into close contact provides an ideal setting for a jump to human hosts. It took scientists more than a dozen years to find the animal vector for SARS, also caused by a coronavirus. In the meantime the scienctific question has become embroiled in a bitter political dispute.  

Raccoon dogs are from an ancient lineage that is neither raccoon or dog.  In Japan, the native species is called "tanuki" and is associated with magic, shapeshfting, and luck in folklore, but are considered an invasive species in Europe.