For several decades on the Pearl River there has been both a wild harvest and cultured pearl industry built around fresh water mussels.
The pearl are sold,the shell will be used for cultured pearl implants and a source of calcium,etc.
The mussel meat can be used for feeding a number of kinds of animals along with being used as bait for fish,turtles and many wild mammals.
Some people will eat the meats but when folks have asked me in this country to supply them "legally" with mussel for human consumption I turn them down for a good reason.
Mussel meat is notorious for collecting a number of diseases and all kinds of manmade industrial chemicals (PCBs,etc).
Would the aggregate chemicals in mussels used for food and bait be likely to cause mutations in other diseases like the corona virus?
The same folks that raise or dive for mussel would likely deal in the wild animal trade.
Tons of mussel meat would be produced and used for bait or animal and human food.
PCBs are only one of many nastys that buildup in shellfish.Could the chemicals cause SARS to mutate?
Just a thought.
Maybe one of you can tell me if SARS would have been more likely to mutate in people or animals that have high levels of nasty chemicals,(PCBs,etc.),in their bodies from consumption of badly contaminated food.
It makes sense to me but I'm certainly no geneticist. ;O)