Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Why pandemic researchers are talking about raccoon dogs


A few weeks ago, raw data was quietly posted to a virology database by researchers affiliated with China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The data was precious, gathered at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China — the early epicenter of the pandemic — in January and February 2020.

It caught the attention of Florence Débarre, a researcher who works at CNRS, the French national research agency.

After quickly downloading the data, an international team of researchers from Europe, North America and Australia conducted an analysis and uncovered key details about how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may have began. They published their findings in a report this week.


Katherine J. Wu, science writer at The Atlantic, broke the story. She talks to Short Wave co-host Emily Kwong about this new analysis — the strongest evidence yet on the pandemic's natural origins — what questions remain and why the genetic material of raccoon dogs being found in the mix matters.

As a scientific endeavor, virus hunting takes years. Data transparency is paramount, and officials in China have been resistant to sharing information. The origins of the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak weren't known for a decade. You can listen to Emily's 2020 conversation with Dr. Lin-Fa Wang about this SARS outbreak — referenced in this episode — here.



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