because the hypothesis of a virus escaping from a laboratory is not excluded

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in humans is still unknown and, among the hypotheses studied by scientists, the possibility of contamination in a Wuhan laboratory is being studied.

As the search for a vaccine or treatment for the coronavirus continues, scientists are still trying to understand the emergence of SARS-Cov-2 in China and how it might have passed from animals to humans. Among the hypotheses on the table, that of contamination inside the Wuhan virology laboratories, which would then have been disseminated outside.

“We are still talking about it because WHO experts whose mission is to try to understand what happened were finally able to contact Chinese experts almost a year later,” said Dr. Alain Ducardonnet, health consultant for BFMTV on Monday. This exchange took place on October 30 and was, among other things, to understand the origins of the virus.

What made the virus pass from animals to humans?

“What we do know is that yes, this virus comes from the bat,” explains Alain Ducardonnet, but “we haven’t found this intermediate element yet, which means we went there.” Human being. “And this transfer could potentially come from a laboratory in Wuhan.

“The work published for fifteen years from [l’Institut de virologie de Wuhan] and in particular, the laboratory of Shi Zhengli (Chinese virologist specialized in bat viruses, ed) consisted in sampling viruses in wildlife to try to understand the mechanisms of crossing the species barrier to try to defend yourself “, explains Etienne Decroly to France Info. virologist of the CNRS He wonders about the “possibility of escaping from a laboratory a sample that would have been collected in wildlife”.

“Today we don’t have the faintest idea, which means that the researchers, in all objectivity, have put on the table the idea of: there was no accident, no contamination, since we know that this P4 laboratory has Wuhan specializes in coronavirus. Couldn’t someone have infected himself? “, Alain Ducardonnet also asks. “It’s possible. It wouldn’t be the first time,” biologist Serge Morand told France Info.

Wuhan denies

More than 2,000 bat coronaviruses have been detected by Shi Zhengli’s lab, the newspaper explained. Science in July, “one of which is 96.2% identical to SARS-CoV-2”, RaTG13. The Chinese virologist specifies that this RaTG13 “has never been isolated or cultivated” and adds that all members of her scientific group tested negative for Covid-19.

“To date, there have been no pathogen leaks or personnel infection incidents,” said Shi Zhengli.

“Without permission, not even a mosquito could enter the laboratory,” Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, said in July, denying that the leak could have come from his institution.

No lab creation

According to the scientists, current research should not, however, fuel the theory that Covid-19 was created in the laboratory.

“There is no man-made or man-made trace in the genome,” infectious specialist Karine Lacombe told BFMTV on Monday. “The characteristics of the virus that constitutes it, however, make it a virus that comes from animals, it is a zoonosis, it is an infectious agent that has mutated in order to infect human cells”.

“There is a track that is really abandoned, it is the synthetic construction of a virus to attack the universe”, explains Alain Ducardonnet.

If it turns out that Covid-19 really comes from a Wuhan laboratory, “it would not be about building a biological weapon but research aimed at better understanding how this virus works,” he explains. to Parisian Etienne Decroly.

Other hypotheses on the table

As the emergence of this coronavirus remains unknown for the moment, other hypotheses are on the table to explain its transition from animals to humans. “The French researchers, for example, have said that the raccoon dog is an extremely favorable host, and exists in China. So that too would be a hypothesis,” explains Alain Ducardonnet. This “raccoon dog” may have taken it from a bat before passing it on to humans.

The theory of transmission by the pangolin also persists, a privileged route at the beginning, although this hypothesis is “in decline, because in the end the genetic comparison is not in its favor”, continues the Health Specialist.