16-09-2021, 08:59 AM
SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Hundreds of thousands of people may be infected annually by animals carrying coronaviruses related to the one that causes Covid-19 each year in China and South-east Asia
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An average of 400,000 such infections occur annually, most going unrecognised because they cause mild or no symptoms and are not easily transmitted between people
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each spillover represents an opportunity for viral adaptation that could lead to a Covid-like outbreak.
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Humans are continually exposed to bat coronaviruses, he said. "Given the right set of circumstances, one of these could eventually lead to a disease outbreak."
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Almost two dozen bat species that can be infected by coronaviruses dwell in Asia, with southern China and parts of Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia deemed the riskiest for spillovers.
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No evidence supporting the lab-leak theory has emerged. Last month (August), the US intelligence community ruled out the possibility that Sars-CoV-2 was developed by China as a biological weapon, but no consensus has been reached on its origin.
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Mr Daszak's study estimated that a median of 50,000 bat-to-human spillover events occur in South-east Asia annually and said the number could run into the millions. Animal intermediaries make the risk of exposure to animal viruses in nature "far, far greater than any possible exposure in a lab", Mr Holmes said. "And this is just bats. The risk of exposure is even higher when you factor in all the possible intermediate animal species."
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asi...emic-study
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An average of 400,000 such infections occur annually, most going unrecognised because they cause mild or no symptoms and are not easily transmitted between people
......
each spillover represents an opportunity for viral adaptation that could lead to a Covid-like outbreak.
......
Humans are continually exposed to bat coronaviruses, he said. "Given the right set of circumstances, one of these could eventually lead to a disease outbreak."
......
Almost two dozen bat species that can be infected by coronaviruses dwell in Asia, with southern China and parts of Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia deemed the riskiest for spillovers.
......
No evidence supporting the lab-leak theory has emerged. Last month (August), the US intelligence community ruled out the possibility that Sars-CoV-2 was developed by China as a biological weapon, but no consensus has been reached on its origin.
......
Mr Daszak's study estimated that a median of 50,000 bat-to-human spillover events occur in South-east Asia annually and said the number could run into the millions. Animal intermediaries make the risk of exposure to animal viruses in nature "far, far greater than any possible exposure in a lab", Mr Holmes said. "And this is just bats. The risk of exposure is even higher when you factor in all the possible intermediate animal species."
......
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asi...emic-study