Post #2. Spillover is a much more entertaining read than back issues of
Nature though both will get you to the same point.
I attend a lecture by Quammen at MSU as a guest of my wife who was getting her Master's in Microbiology there and was taking a course on Epidemiology. Hence my recommendation to Randy.
The conspiracy theory comes from Steven Mosher who works at an Anti-China lobbying group.... maybe just a skosh of conflict of interest. Similar conspiracy theories surrounded Ebola, SARS, MERS and even Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
Also influenza would be a dumb disease to weaponize, case in point (
@vanish see what I did there) our current situation, Low rate of fatality and way too contagious, you want something that is virulent but not particularly contagious, e.g. Ebola, Anthrax.
On this theory
"The conspiracy theory lacks evidence and has been dismissed by scientists. But it has gained an audience with the help of well-connected critics of the Chinese government such as Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s
former chief strategist. And on Sunday, it got its biggest public boost yet."
Scientists have dismissed suggestions that the Chinese government was behind the outbreak, but it’s the kind of tale that gains traction among those who see China as a threat.
www.nytimes.com
"Vipin Narang, associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also told The Post it was "a skip in logic to say it's a bioweapon" or claim China "developed and intentionally deployed, or even unintentionally deployed" the virus.
"I don't think it's particularly helpful, and it's borderline irresponsible to — and it's without evidence, so at this point it's a conspiracy theory — peddle it," he told the newspaper. "
The conspiracy theory focuses on the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, a government lab near the meat market at the center of the outbreak.
www.businessinsider.com
"A group of 27 prominent public health scientists from outside China is pushing back against a steady stream of stories and even a
scientific paper suggesting a laboratory in Wuhan, China, may be the origin of the outbreak of COVID-19. “The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins,” the scientists, from nine countries, write in a statement
published online by The Lancet yesterday."
www.sciencemag.org
"Evidence suggests the virus likely spilled over to humans from an as-yet-unidentified animal, as has happened in the past for other coronaviruses. The SARS virus, for instance, is thought to have come from
bats, and then spread to humans through
civets, a cat-like animal eaten as a
delicacy in Asia. The SARS virus then proved to be
transmissible from person to person.
A similar story played out in 2012 with the virus responsible for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or
MERS, which may also have
originated in bats, and then spread to humans via
camel."
Multiple social media posts are spreading a bogus conspiracy theory about the deadly Wuhan virus. The posts falsely claim that the virus has been patented and a vaccine is already available. That’s not true; the patents the posts refer to pertain to different viruses.
www.factcheck.org
link.springer.com
