The Coronavirus Started in Animals and Adapted to Infect Humans
With all the talk of how the U.S. should prepare for an outbreak of the Coronavirus, I got to wondering what started this whole thing. I hear the news reports everyday, but they never really say where the virus came from. Or if they did, I missed it. It turns out that there are several types of Coronaviruses and they've been known for a long time. Some of these varieties will make people sick, like a bad cold. Other strains affect only animals. Remember the SARS virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in the early 2000's? That is an example of a Coronavirus that started in animals and spread to people. It's the same with this current strain of Coronavirus, but it is different than SARS. As I'm sure you've heard, it all started in Wuhan, China. What I had not yet heard was that it was found to have existed at a live animal market there. Somehow the virus found it could live in and be transferred by humans.