Waiting for the truth: is reluctance in accepting an early origin hypothesis for SARS-CoV-2 delaying our understanding of viral emergence?
COVID-19
SARS
epidemiology
public health
Journal
BMJ global health
ISSN: 2059-7908
Titre abrégé: BMJ Glob Health
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101685275
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
03 2022
03 2022
Historique:
received:
27
12
2021
accepted:
19
02
2022
entrez:
17
3
2022
pubmed:
18
3
2022
medline:
29
3
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Two years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, key questions about the emergence of its aetiological agent (SARS-CoV-2) remain a matter of considerable debate. Identifying when SARS-CoV-2 began spreading among people is one of those questions. Although the current canonically accepted timeline hypothesises viral emergence in Wuhan, China, in November or December 2019, a growing body of diverse studies provides evidence that the virus may have been spreading worldwide weeks, or even months, prior to that time. However, the hypothesis of earlier SARS-CoV-2 circulation is often dismissed with prejudicial scepticism and experimental studies pointing to early origins are frequently and speculatively attributed to false-positive tests. In this paper, we critically review current evidence that SARS-CoV-2 had been circulating prior to December of 2019, and emphasise how, despite some scientific limitations, this hypothesis should no longer be ignored and considered sufficient to warrant further larger-scale studies to determine its veracity.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35296465
pii: bmjgh-2021-008386
doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-008386
pmc: PMC8927931
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.
Références
Euro Surveill. 2020 Dec;25(49):
pubmed: 33303064
Emerg Infect Dis. 2021 Feb;27(2):648-650
pubmed: 33292923
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jan 1;750:141711
pubmed: 32835962
J Med Virol. 2020 Sep;92(9):1637-1640
pubmed: 32222993
J Med Virol. 2022 Mar;94(3):847-857
pubmed: 34609003
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2021 Mar-Apr;40:102002
pubmed: 33647467
Natl Sci Rev. 2021 Dec 11;9(4):nwab223
pubmed: 35497643
Mol Biol Evol. 2020 Sep 1;37(9):2463-2464
pubmed: 32893295
Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Apr 9;74(7):1313-1314
pubmed: 34420046
Environ Res. 2022 Dec;215(Pt 1):113979
pubmed: 36029839
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 3;15(12):e0243411
pubmed: 33270782
Epidemics. 2021 Dec;37:100528
pubmed: 34814093
Cell Discov. 2020 Oct 29;6(1):76
pubmed: 33298872
Am J Clin Dermatol. 2020 Oct;21(5):627-639
pubmed: 32865778
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 1;806(Pt 4):150816
pubmed: 34627901
Viruses. 2021 Sep 08;13(9):
pubmed: 34578371
Viruses. 2021 Dec 30;14(1):
pubmed: 35062265
Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 15;72(12):e1004-e1009
pubmed: 33252659
Mol Biol Evol. 2021 May 19;38(6):2547-2565
pubmed: 33605421
Science. 2020 Dec 11;370(6522):1339-1343
pubmed: 33159009
SN Comput Sci. 2021;2(3):203
pubmed: 33870214
Bioinformatics. 2022 May 13;38(10):2719-2726
pubmed: 35561179
PLoS One. 2021 Dec 7;16(12):e0260947
pubmed: 34874956
Science. 2020 Oct 30;370(6516):564-570
pubmed: 32912998
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 16;17(22):
pubmed: 33207548
Mol Biol Evol. 2021 Jul 29;38(8):3046-3059
pubmed: 33942847
Dermatology. 2021;237(1):1-12
pubmed: 33232965
Euro Surveill. 2020 Jun;25(24):
pubmed: 32583766
Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2022 Jan;16(1):166-171
pubmed: 34528756
Eur J Epidemiol. 2021 Feb;36(2):219-222
pubmed: 33548003
Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2020 Jun;55(6):106006
pubmed: 32371096
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jul 15;778:146198
pubmed: 33714813
Br J Dermatol. 2021 May;184(5):970-971
pubmed: 33410129
Cell. 2021 Sep 16;184(19):4848-4856
pubmed: 34480864
Sci Bull (Beijing). 2021 May 30;66(10):1022-1029
pubmed: 33520335
Virus Evol. 2020 Aug 19;6(2):veaa061
pubmed: 33235813
Science. 2021 Apr 23;372(6540):412-417
pubmed: 33737402
Lancet Public Health. 2020 Jun;5(6):e310
pubmed: 32339478
Lancet. 2021 Dec 4;398(10316):2109-2124
pubmed: 34762857
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2019 Mar;17(3):181-192
pubmed: 30531947
Lancet. 2020 Feb 15;395(10223):497-506
pubmed: 31986264
Viruses. 2021 Apr 16;13(4):
pubmed: 33923819
JAMA. 2020 Apr 28;323(16):1545-1546
pubmed: 32167538
Tumori. 2021 Oct;107(5):446-451
pubmed: 33176598
Mol Biol Evol. 2021 Dec 9;38(12):5211-5224
pubmed: 34398234