Lethal Pneumonia Cases in Mojiang Miners (2012) and the Mineshaft Could Provide Important Clues to the Origin of SARS-CoV-2.

Frontiers in Public Health
Monali C. Rahalkar, Rahul A. Bahulikar

Abstract

With the COVID-19 pandemic reaching its worst heights, people are interested in the origin of SARS-CoV-2. This study started with two important questions: first, were there any similar atypical pneumonia outbreaks, even on a smaller level, reported between SARS in 2004 and COVID-19 in 2019/20 in China. Second, examining the beta-coronavirus most closely related to date with SARS-CoV-2 at the genome sequence level, strain RaTG13 (CoV4991), which was sampled from a horseshoe bat in Yunnan province, we asked where exactly did it come from. It was found that RaTG13/CoV4991 was collected from Tongguan mineshaft in Mojiang, Yunnan, China, in 2013. Surprisingly, the same mineshaft was also associated with a severe pneumonia-like illness in miners in 2012 killing three of the six miners. A Master's thesis (in the Chinese language) was found on the cnki.net website which described in detail the severe illness in miners. The thesis concluded that a SARS-like CoV originating from Chinese horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus) was the predicted causative agent. The cases were remotely monitored by a prominent pulmonologist in China. Retrospective analysis of the pneumonia cases shows striking similarities with COVID-19. Bilateral pneumonia, vascular...Continue Reading

References

May 29, 2014·Emerging Infectious Diseases·Zhiqiang WuQi Jin
Feb 9, 2019·Infection, Genetics and Evolution : Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics in Infectious Diseases·Ping YuJie Cui
Feb 28, 2020·The Lancet Infectious Diseases·Heshui ShiChuansheng Zheng
Apr 12, 2020·The Journal of Infection·Huan LiQingming Wu
Aug 28, 2020·Nature Communications·Alice LatinnePeter Daszak

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Citations

Apr 4, 2021·Viruses·Sofia Cheliout Da SilvaChristopher C Broder
Jul 27, 2021·Bulletin de l'Académie nationale de médecine·J Brugère-PicouxUNKNOWN l’Académie nationale de médecine et de l’Académie vétérinaire de France

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BETA
PCR

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PREDICT

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