CORONAVIRUS : NATURAL OR MAN-MADE ?

 

CORONAVIRUS : NATURAL OR MAN-MADE ?

                                                                                Nikunja BIhari Sahu

 

     Amidst the global onslaught of the novel coronavirus showing no sign of containment, mainly two theories have been put forward regarding its origin and spread. According to one such theory, the virus could have been deliberately genetically engineered in the lab by China to be used as a bio-weapon to slow down the world economy in an attempt to establish its supremacy as the global super power. The second theory suggests that it might have been the result of an accidental leak at a laboratory in China’s Wuhan city which subsequently led to the global pandemic.

            Biological weapons generally use microorganisms to induce contagious diseases in humans, livestock or plants. It is the deadliest weapon in any arsenal, since unlike nuclear weapons, there is no way to map its spread including into the  attacker’s territory. Countries suspected or known to have carried such programmes include the US, Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Israel, Iran and North Korea with the array of bio-weapons having potentials to cause diseases  like   anthrax, botulinum, smallpox etc.

        However, new findings from various researchers debunk the theory and confirmed the natural origin of coronavirus. The researchers analysed genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and identified several tell-tale evidences suggesting COVID-19 as a product of natural evolution.

         Shortly after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and released the data to researchers around the world. Researchers used this data to trace the origin of COVID-19 identifying several significant features that suggest its natural origin. They found that the spike protein of the virus, a Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) that hooks onto host cells, had evolved to target ACE2, an enzyme founded on the outer surface of human cells that helps to regulate blood pressure. The COVID-19 spike protein is so efficient at binding to human cells that it could only be a result of natural selection, not artificial engineering. Another tell-tale sign of natural origin is the molecular structure of the  virus, which is substantially different from other known viruses. Rather than mimicking other viruses known to cause severe illness in humans, COVID-19 more closely resembles strains of corona virus naturally  found in bats and pangolins. Hence, these two features of the virus, i.e.  the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct genetic structure , rule out the  laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

             If the origin of the virus is natural , experts think its evolution could have been first occurred in a non-human host such as a bat before jumping to humans. Another theory is that an intermediate host like pangolin might have been also involved. In a third scenario, researchers suggest a non-pathogenic version of COVID-19 virus might have   jumped from an animal to a human before evolving  into its current form.

          The US strongly believes that the virus might have been accidentally escaped out from one of the two biologically labs meant for studying viruses in the Wuhan city of China. Wuhan Institute of Virology ( WIV), the result of a collaborative effort with France after the first SARS outbreak in 2002, might have been the epicentre of the virus. The lab is one of 20 such facilities under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but is the only one dealing with virology.  The virus, along with other deadly and infectious viruses, was being studied in the lab as an attempt by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for research and  possibly  to demonstrate its capability in the field to the world.  Similarly, a second institute in the city, the Wuhan Centre for Disease Control ( WCDC),  which is barely three miles from the meat market (where the infection first occurred according to Chinese officials ) is also believed to have carried out experiments on animals such as bats to examine the transmission of coronaviruses.   Since January, 2018, the US officials in China have been frantically raising   concerns regarding the inadequate biosafety measures at these two Chinese labs    quoting serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory. It is said that after the coronavirus outbreak began since December, 2019, the officials at these labs have destroyed samples of the virus, erased early reports and suppressed academic papers. Experts believe that these two Chinese institutes studied these deadly viruses with only Bio Safety Level (BSL)  2  rather than the recommended level 4, which 'provides only minimal protections against infection of lab workers. It is speculated that the "patient zero" who worked at one of these two notorious labs got himself or herself accidentally infected with the preserved samples,  possibly went out  shopping to the  nearby meat market,  after a long, asymptomatic incubation period of the virus, and unknowingly released  the virus to the world.

        Given the above scenario, while most evidences point that coronavirus might not be  a lab construct, but its origin as a  lab accident may not be ruled out.

 

                                                                                                    Education Officer

                                                                                            Regional Science Centre

                                                                                                             Bhopal

                                                                                                Phone :8018708858