Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant | Hacker News Reader

Evidence for a mouse origin of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

18 pointsMizza6 comments

Animal reservoirs are generally seen as a vector for reinfection, as well as places for diseases to mutate into more dangerous variants (swine flu, bird flu, etc...). The notion that animal reservoirs could give rise to less concerning variants is a welcome thought. Though, if covid can indeed infect rats and then reinfect people form them, then any hopes that this would not be an endemic disease are gone.

The interesting thing here, hidden between the lines, is the implication that these were laboratory mice.

What do you see that implies that?

I gotta admit, that was my first thought as well when I read the title - but I can't find anything in the actual text that suggests that. It only seems to talk about mice in general. Where do you see that implication?

Hadn’t crossed my mind, because I’m still assuming it ultimately came via a bat research project. But now that you bring it up… I ddg “are bats and mice close cousins” and get a reference to moving a bat coronavirus into mice:

> Eloit’s team plans to put BANAL-236 into “humanized” mice and possibly monkeys to see whether it can cause disease

> The BANAL isolates join a growing list of bat coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 [found all over the place]

> The BANAL isolates, like all close relatives of SARS-CoV-2, are missing a signature component of the pandemic virus known as the furin cleavage site

https://www.science.org/content/article/close-cousins-sars-c...

[Edit: IMO]

So bat-sourced, transferred to mice for further investigation, and accidentally transferred to human is a very plausible pathway. All it would take is a furin cleavage event turning it into super-measles, a mouse sneeze or a carelessly handled dead mouse, and a handler is not wearing googles or the mask isn’t well-fitted, and all of a sudden we’re living in a Crichton or King novel.

Wouldn’t be the first dangerous bio lab leak, unlikely to be the last.

> as well as places for diseases to mutate into more dangerous variants

My guess is that most of the round trips create less dangerous variants, but most of the time they fade away and nobody cares about them. Only the more dangerous variants reach the news.

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