ABOVE: Civet cats are thought to have passed SARS-CoV, the virus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, from bats to humans.
© ISTOCK.COM, SPMEMORY
When a new zoonotic outbreak occurs, scientists rush to trace the species the infection originated from. Often the infection jumps from its initial animal carrier to an intermediate host species, which then transmits the virus to humans. Identifying intermediate host species enable risk-mitigating public health policies to be implemented and gives researchers a better understanding of the disease evolution and pathogenesis.
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, belongs to the same family of viruses as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, which first circulated in bats before transmitting via intermediate hosts to humans. While SARS-CoV-2 is likely to have come to humans through a similar route, “we currently don’t have any evidence that there’s an intermediate host,” says William Karesh, the executive vice president for health and policy at EcoHealth ...
