Foxnews:发表在《自然微生物学》上的研究称，科学家可能知道冠状病毒的起源

[lindamy]

Scientists may know where coronavirus originated, study says

The study was published in Nature Microbiology
By Amy McGorry | Fox News

Months into the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still investigating the actual event where the crossover of the novel coronavirus from animals to humans occurred. A team of scientists may have discovered the answer to the question many have been asking for months, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology.

The group of scientists from the United States, China, and Europe compared mutation patterns of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to other viruses, and created an evolutionary history of the related viruses. They discovered the lineage responsible for producing the virus that created the COVID-19 pandemic has been present in bats, according to the study.

Scientists discovered the lineage responsible for producing the virus that created the COVID-19 pandemic has been present in bats, according to the study. (iStock)

“Collectively our analyses point to bats being the primary reservoir for the SARS-CoV-2 lineage. While it is possible that pangolins, or another hitherto undiscovered species, may have acted as an intermediate host facilitating transmission to humans, current evidence is consistent with the virus having evolved in bats resulting in bat sarbecoviruses that can replicate in the upper respiratory tract of both humans and pangolins," the study authors said in the published report.

The novel coronavirus evolved from other bat viruses from 40-70 years ago, the team of researchers said.

“The lineage giving rise to SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating unnoticed in bats for decades,” the authors wrote.

In a news release provided to Fox News, the researchers said that SARS-CoV-2 is similar genetically (about 96%) to the RaTG13 coronavirus found in a sample of the Rhinolophus affinis horseshoe bat in 2013 in Yunnan province, China, but it diverged from RaTG13 back in 1969.

“The ability to estimate divergence times after disentangling recombination histories, which is something we developed in this collaboration, may lead to insights into the origins of many different viral pathogens,” Principal investigator, Philippe Lemey, with the Department of Evolutionary and Computational Virology, KE Leuven, said in the release.

The novel coronavirus shares a trait with older members of its lineage regarding the receptor-binding domain (RBD) on its spike protein, which allows it to bind with human receptor cells, the authors said.

“Its receptor-binding motif, important for specificity to human ACE2 receptors, appears to be an ancestral trait shared with bat viruses and not one acquired recently via recombination," according to the study.

“This means that other viruses that are capable of infecting humans are circulating in horseshoe bats in China," co-author of the study, David Robertson, who is a professor of computational virology at MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, explained in the release.

The authors of the study said other groups of researchers were incorrect in suggesting that evolutionary changes that occurred in pangolins allowed the novel coronavirus to be transmitted to humans. Robertson said, “SARS-CoV-2’s RBD sequence has so far only been found in a few pangolin viruses.

“While it is possible that pangolins may have acted as an intermediate host facilitating transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans, no evidence exists to suggest that pangolin infection is a requirement for bat viruses to cross into humans," Robertson also stated in the report. “Instead, our research suggests that SARS-CoV-2 likely evolved the ability to replicate in the upper respiratory tract of both humans and pangolins.”

Implementing systems to monitor human diseases in real-time and better sampling of bats are needed to detect new infectious microorganisms and prevent future pandemics, the authors said in the release.

“The key to successful surveillance,” Robertson said, “is knowing which viruses to look for and prioritizing those that can readily infect humans. We should have been better prepared for a second SARS virus.”

Scientists may know where coronavirus originated, study says

A group of researchers claim to have discovered where the novel coronavirus originated, according to a new study.

www.foxnews.com

 

[lindamy]

Former Pence adviser will vote for Biden, says Trump botched coronavirus response

She said that by mid-February the White House knew COVID-19 would become a pandemic
By Morgan Phillips | Fox News

A former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who served on the coronavirus task force claims President Trump once said coronavirus might be a good thing because he wouldn’t have to shake hands with “disgusting people.”

Olivia Troye left Pence’s team in August, but before that worked as Homeland Security, counterterrorism and coronavirus adviser for him for two years. She said that by mid-February the White House knew COVID-19 would become a pandemic.

In an ad by Republican Voters against Trump, Troye said Trump remarked in a coronavirus task force meeting: “Maybe this COVID thing is a good thing. I don’t like shaking hands with people. I don’t have to shake hands with these disgusting people.”

“I have been a Republican my entire life,” she said. “I am voting for Joe Biden because I truly believe we are at a time of constitutional crisis. At this point it’s country over party.”

“The truth is he doesn't actually care about anyone else but himself,” she said, adding that Trump was most concerned about tanking the economy in an election year.

The White House adamantly denied the exchange, with White House spokesperson Judd Deere saying “her assertions have no basis in reality and are flat-out inaccurate."

Deere said Troye was “disgruntled” and that she generally watched task force meetings from an overflow staff room and was never in private meetings with the president.

Keith Kellogg, Pence's national security adviser, said Troye was resentful of being let go from the administration. “Ms. Troye is a former detailee and a career Department of Homeland Security staff member, who is disgruntled that her detail was cut short because she was no longer capable of keeping up with her day-to-day duties.”

He said Troye reported to him and never once expressed concern about the administration’s response to the pandemic.

"By not expressing her concerns, she demonstrated an incredible lack of moral courage," Kellogg said.

Trump, a self-described “germaphobe,” has expressed distaste for shaking hands since long before his foray into politics.

Over the years he’s called the practice “barbaric,” “disgusting,” “very, very terrible” and “one of the curses of American society.” But he continued shaking hands until mid-March, after health officials recommended against doing so.

Troye also said she would be skeptical of any vaccine released before the election in an interview with The Washington Post.

“I would not tell anyone I care about to take a vaccine that launches prior to the election,” she said. “I would listen to the experts and the unity in pharma. And I would wait to make sure that this vaccine is safe and not a prop tied to an election.”

“The president’s rhetoric and his own attacks against people in his administration trying to do the work, as well as the promulgation of false narratives and incorrect information of the virus, have made this ongoing response a failure,” Troye told the Post.

Troye said she’d voted Republican in every election except for 2016 because she didn’t like the president’s rhetoric. She said she accepted Trump’s win and took a job with his presidency with optimism because she respected other Trump officials, such as Pence.

“I still have a lot of respect for the vice president,” she said. “I worked very loyally for him to do everything I could for him. I don’t want this to become a speaking-out-against-him thing.”

Pence, when asked about her comments, said “it reads to me like one more disgruntled employee that has decided to play politics during election year.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former Pence adviser will vote for Biden, says Trump botched coronavirus response

A former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who served on the coronavirus task force said President Trump once said coronavirus might be a good thing because he wouldn’t have to shake hands with “disgusting people.”

www.foxnews.com

 

[ottawa_tj]

You are watching too much Fox news lately, be careful! Haha...

 

[New Person]

Scientists may know where coronavirus originated, study says

The study was published in Nature Microbiology
By Amy McGorry | Fox News

Months into the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still investigating the actual event where the crossover of the novel coronavirus from animals to humans occurred. A team of scientists may have discovered the answer to the question many have been asking for months, according to a study published in Nature Microbiology.

The group of scientists from the United States, China, and Europe compared mutation patterns of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to other viruses, and created an evolutionary history of the related viruses. They discovered the lineage responsible for producing the virus that created the COVID-19 pandemic has been present in bats, according to the study.

Scientists discovered the lineage responsible for producing the virus that created the COVID-19 pandemic has been present in bats, according to the study. (iStock)

“Collectively our analyses point to bats being the primary reservoir for the SARS-CoV-2 lineage. While it is possible that pangolins, or another hitherto undiscovered species, may have acted as an intermediate host facilitating transmission to humans, current evidence is consistent with the virus having evolved in bats resulting in bat sarbecoviruses that can replicate in the upper respiratory tract of both humans and pangolins," the study authors said in the published report.

The novel coronavirus evolved from other bat viruses from 40-70 years ago, the team of researchers said.

“The lineage giving rise to SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating unnoticed in bats for decades,” the authors wrote.

In a news release provided to Fox News, the researchers said that SARS-CoV-2 is similar genetically (about 96%) to the RaTG13 coronavirus found in a sample of the Rhinolophus affinis horseshoe bat in 2013 in Yunnan province, China, but it diverged from RaTG13 back in 1969.

“The ability to estimate divergence times after disentangling recombination histories, which is something we developed in this collaboration, may lead to insights into the origins of many different viral pathogens,” Principal investigator, Philippe Lemey, with the Department of Evolutionary and Computational Virology, KE Leuven, said in the release.

The novel coronavirus shares a trait with older members of its lineage regarding the receptor-binding domain (RBD) on its spike protein, which allows it to bind with human receptor cells, the authors said.

“Its receptor-binding motif, important for specificity to human ACE2 receptors, appears to be an ancestral trait shared with bat viruses and not one acquired recently via recombination," according to the study.

“This means that other viruses that are capable of infecting humans are circulating in horseshoe bats in China," co-author of the study, David Robertson, who is a professor of computational virology at MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, explained in the release.

The authors of the study said other groups of researchers were incorrect in suggesting that evolutionary changes that occurred in pangolins allowed the novel coronavirus to be transmitted to humans. Robertson said, “SARS-CoV-2’s RBD sequence has so far only been found in a few pangolin viruses.

“While it is possible that pangolins may have acted as an intermediate host facilitating transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans, no evidence exists to suggest that pangolin infection is a requirement for bat viruses to cross into humans," Robertson also stated in the report. “Instead, our research suggests that SARS-CoV-2 likely evolved the ability to replicate in the upper respiratory tract of both humans and pangolins.”

Implementing systems to monitor human diseases in real-time and better sampling of bats are needed to detect new infectious microorganisms and prevent future pandemics, the authors said in the release.

“The key to successful surveillance,” Robertson said, “is knowing which viruses to look for and prioritizing those that can readily infect humans. We should have been better prepared for a second SARS virus.”

Scientists may know where coronavirus originated, study says

A group of researchers claim to have discovered where the novel coronavirus originated, according to a new study.

www.foxnews.com

希望科学家能早日找到病毒的起源，政客们就不能用这个问题忽悠人。但短期内可能性不大。

 

[lindamy]

You are watching too much Fox news lately, be careful! Haha...

这里有些人和现在白宫一样，对除了Fox以外的任何文章嗤之以鼻，只要不对胃口就扣个fake news,所以我也只能去看还能被他们认可的这家媒体，可是发现似乎FOX是最为分裂的，几位中坚主持人不遗余力地挺川，可是不断流出不协调的声音。既然这家不属于fake news,那当然价值高，更值得关注。