This week in science | Science

Despite many assumptions about how COVID-19 emerged in humans in Wuhan, China, in the winter of 2019, many experts speculated that it was a zoonotic disease that originated in bats. horseshoe. In perspective, Lytras et al. discuss the evidence supporting COVID-19 as an overflow event, likely from an intermediate host species that acted as a conduit from horseshoe bats, which are a host reservoir for coronaviruses related to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARSr-CoV). The authors discuss events at the time that increased the likelihood of such an overflow, including increased demand for meat following a pig farm slaughter associated with an outbreak of the swine fever virus. African. Growing demand has increased agriculture, contact and encroachment on wildlife habitats that are sensitive to SARSr-CoV. The SARS outbreak in 2002 exposed the danger posed by SARSr-CoV, and the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic again underscores that these viruses pose an immediate risk that must be watched for.

Science, abh0117, this issue p. 968