HealthDay Reports: Pangolins Hold Clues to How COVID-19 Began — and Might End
Some credit pangolins — small mammals that look like anteaters with scales — with playing a role in the emergence of the new coronavirus, and so they might hold clues on fighting COVID-19.
Pangolins Hold Clues to How COVID-19 Began — and Might End
FRIDAY, May 8, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- They're small spiny mammals that look like anteaters with scales.
And pangolins -- which some credit with playing a role in the emergence of the new coronavirus -- might hold clues to fighting COVID-19.
Genetic research into the new coronavirus has suggested that it originated in bats, found its way into pangolins sold at Chinese "wet markets," and then migrated into humans.
So why doesn't the virus sicken and kill pangolins?
In a new study, researchers at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria analyzed the genomic blueprint of pangolins and compared it to other mammals including humans, cats, dogs and cattle.