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Scientists Now Think They Know What Started China's Deadly Coronavirus: Bats
Vice ^ | Jan 24 2020, 11:20am | by David Gilbert

Posted on 01/24/2020 9:41:21 AM PST by Red Badger

The first people who contracted the deadly new coronavirus sweeping through Asia were infected when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and a new report points to the original animal source: bats.

Scientists from the Wuhan Institute for Virology — located in China’s epicenter of the outbreak, now under quarantine — published a paper Thursday that confirmed the fast-spreading virus is in the same family as the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus that hit Asia in 2003 and killed almost 800 people, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Based on oral swabs, anal swabs, and blood collected from seven patients at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, the scientists were able to genetically sequence the virus. Then they tested it against a database of known viruses and found a 96.2% match with a coronavirus known to live in bats, which is also believed to be the source of the SARS and MERS outbreaks.

Ebola, the deadly virus that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, is also believed to have originated from bats.

The researchers found that the new virus uses the same receptors as SARS to hack into a victim’s lungs, causing symptoms such as coughing, headaches, and pneumonia. This paper is the first to describe the new virus, dubbed nCoV-2019, in detail.

The outbreak is believed to have originated at a meat and seafood market in Wuhan where live animals were slaughtered and wild animals were also sold.

Another report from China earlier this week claimed that the coronavirus may have originated in snakes, which were reportedly sold in the Wuhan market. However, that report also suggested that since snakes hunt bats in the wild, they could have been the original source of the virus.

The new coronavirus, like SARS and MERS, is a zoonotic viral disease, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals.

Since it emerged last month, the new virus has killed 26 people and infected 830, most of whom are in Wuhan, where authorities are trying to fast-track a new, 1000-bed hospital in just six days.

The outbreak has come at the worst time for China as hundreds of millions of people will travel long distances this weekend to celebrate Lunar New Year, making the task of containing the spread of the virus much harder.

In a bid to stop the virus spreading, authorities have imposed strict travel restrictions on 10 cities in the central province of Hubei, effectively locking down some 30 million people.

But these efforts come after the virus has already spread to almost all areas of China, and internationally to Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, and the U.S., where a second confirmed case was reported in Chicago on Friday.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Health/Medicine; History; Pets/Animals; Travel
KEYWORDS: bat; chinavirus; corona; coronavirus; virus
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To: Labyrinthos
This is the virus ...

That invaded the snake ...

That ate the bat ...

That was served on a plate ...

That lived in the market that Jack built ...

21 posted on 01/24/2020 9:52:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
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To: Red Badger

Since when did Schiff, Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler and Hillary go to Red China? You can’t get a better bunch of old, infected bats than them.


22 posted on 01/24/2020 9:52:50 AM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (ues)
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To: Daffynition

Dim Sum Bat?..........................


23 posted on 01/24/2020 9:53:47 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Kickass Conservative

...And they think we are UNCIVILIZED...................


24 posted on 01/24/2020 9:54:29 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Red Badger

They can’t pin down the source, maybe we should nuke wuhan from orbit, just to be on the safe side...


25 posted on 01/24/2020 9:55:16 AM PST by chemical_boy
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To: Kickass Conservative
One case in point....


26 posted on 01/24/2020 9:56:03 AM PST by Daffynition (*I'm living the dream.* & :))
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To: chemical_boy

They may do it themselves...................


27 posted on 01/24/2020 9:58:06 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Red Badger

The entire nation of China and several others in Asia need to switch to a kosher diet immediately. Stop eating all this unclean garbage!


28 posted on 01/24/2020 9:59:52 AM PST by Cecily
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To: Red Badger

Maybe in Chinese *bats* and *research lab* sound a lot alike.


29 posted on 01/24/2020 9:59:53 AM PST by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: Red Badger

Wow this is bizarre, this is just like the movie “Contagion”. In the movie the virus starts in China and they determine it came from bats.


30 posted on 01/24/2020 10:02:25 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary Clinton remains free equal justice under the law will never exist in the USA)
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To: Billthedrill

“I only eat domestic bats.”
Same here only they must be Organic, Free Range and Grass Fed.


31 posted on 01/24/2020 10:03:18 AM PST by duckman ( Not tired of winning!)
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To: Red Badger

It’s the bat shit that kills you every time. Just ask Bernie.


32 posted on 01/24/2020 10:03:39 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: Cecily

All cultures are equal, right?..................


33 posted on 01/24/2020 10:05:03 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Red Badger

The fact that these 11th Century live animal markets are in the middle of cities with 10 million people is about as unhealthy and unsanitary as it can get. The same with their chicken and duck distribution. Would be like walking into a Stop n Shop in Queens and seeing hundreds of live chicken, duck, and other assorted live victuals with no separation from customers or other foodstuffs. I guess 70 years of Commujism hasn’t really brought China output of it’s own middle ages.


34 posted on 01/24/2020 10:07:51 AM PST by xkaydet65
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To: metmom

There is one word you do not ever want to hear in ANY research lab:

OOPS!......................


35 posted on 01/24/2020 10:08:17 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Red Badger

Who are the leading companies who will come up with a drug to combat (no pun intended) this?


36 posted on 01/24/2020 10:08:45 AM PST by TheRake
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

I saw that!......................


37 posted on 01/24/2020 10:09:20 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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To: Red Badger

“The new coronavirus, like SARS and MERS, is a zoonotic viral disease, meaning the first patients who were infected acquired these viruses directly from animals.”

A lot of assumption reported as confirmed fact.


38 posted on 01/24/2020 10:09:47 AM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Red Badger

Hopefully Organic bat

Where’s PETA!!?


39 posted on 01/24/2020 10:09:53 AM PST by rainee (Her)
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To: TheRake

Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop Grumman......................


40 posted on 01/24/2020 10:10:41 AM PST by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.......... ..)
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