The provenance of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is one of the most important questions for members of the scientific community working on the subject. However, the track of the laboratory accident is currently still part of the hypotheses to explain its origin.
The second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic is currently hitting Europe and the race for a vaccine is accelerating. Nevertheless, the mystery of the origin of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is still not lifted. An article published by the CNRS Journal October 27, 2020 gives the floor to Étienne Decroly, virologist and research director at the CNRS. The interested party mentioned the different hypotheses existing.
Recall that SARS-CoV-2 is – over the past twenty years – the third coronavirus responsible for a severe respiratory syndrome affecting humans. These include SARS-CoV (2003) and MERS-CoV (2012). Circulating mainly in bats, the coronavirus is sometimes subject to a zoonotic transfer . Today, SARS-CoV-2 is spreading widely among humans and it is incumbent to shed light on the reason(s) for its becoming a zoonosis.
Currently, the scientific community believes that SARS-CoV-2 comes from bats. On the other hand, Étienne Decroly recalls that Science has demonstrated no direct transmission from bats to humans. It should therefore be a transmission via an intermediate host. At the start of the pandemic, some researchers thought of the pangolin before abandoning this track.
Since this intermediate host remains a mystery, the laboratory accident hypothesis is still relevant. The same goes for the possibility that the coronavirus is of synthetic origin. Étienne Decroly also recalls that the SARS-CoV of 2003 had come out of experimental laboratories at least four times. The interested party calls for critical reflection on tools and methods of virus reconstruction currently at work in research laboratories.
You should know that today, most laboratories are able to synthesize a genetic sequence and thus produce a virus in a few weeks only. Obviously, international standards govern the work of laboratories with regard to viruses with pandemic potential. Nevertheless, accidents can occur and raise questions about the danger of experiments would be a good idea.
In April 2020, we mentioned an investigation by the United States into the P4 laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (China). This investigation followed suspicions of a possible escape of the virus. Patient zero could have been an employee of the institute who unknowingly released the pathogen in this Chinese city.
