The Covid-19 culprit is us, not pangolins (Opinion)
CNNEditor’s Note: Dr. Robert Breiman is an MD and a professor of Global Health and Infectious Diseases at Emory University. Scientists have found coronaviruses, genetically similar to the Covid19 virus, in pangolins, leading to a hypothesis that they served as an intermediate host, much like civet cats did with SARS. As it has with civets, deforestation has dramatically affected the areas available for pangolins’ foraging, putting them in closer contact with other animals including bats, which are reservoirs for other dangerous viruses like Nipah virus, and possibly Ebola. Given our unprecedented mobility, a single “spillover” event, a virus jumping from animal to human, in a remote location can rapidly result in a global calamity like what we are experiencing now. We can accept that outbreaks like Covid-19 will continue to occur, and likely accelerate in number, as human populations grow, as our incursions into a variety of habitats expand and as our penchant for certain animals continues.
History of this topic
Is THIS how the Covid pandemic began after all? Study finds strain of virus in PANGOLINS was nearly identical to the strain in humans
Daily Mail
Why pangolins may not be the intermediate host
The Hindu
Wild Recovery: Protecting nature and preventing the next pandemic
Al Jazeera
China cracks down on the hunting and trading of coronavirus-linked pangolins
Daily Mail
Pangolins may have incubated the novel coronavirus, gene study shows
CNN
Coronavirus | Humans to blame for pandemic
The Hindu)
Study shows pangolins might be the missing link that passed the Coronavirus from bats to humans
Firstpost)
Coronavirus found in pangolins smuggled into China, but similarity not sufficient to link anteater with current outbreak, finds study
Firstpost
Coronavirus: Scientists find virus similar to Covid-19 in pangolins
The Independent
Pangolins still under threat despite China ban on eating wild animals amid coronavirus outbreak, campaigners say
The Independent
Endangered pangolin suspect No.1 as direct source of coronavirus outbreak
Hindustan Times
Chinese scientists believe pangolins may've spread coronavirus from bats to humans
India TV NewsDiscover Related
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