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New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero Hedge is not a reliable source, especially not for anything concerning foreigners or foreign countries.

Does official information relayed through somewhat unreliable sources invalidate the quality of said information?

I did not see any links to any official government documents on that page. Indeed, I saw very little attribution for many claims. The article is fraught with cultural bias against China, and additionally, I noticed multiple misleading remarks.

Starting from the title. The “TV show” the article refers to was actually just an internet video post. Additionally, this was a one-off event from 2016, and it caused outrage and she was forced to publicly apologize[1]. In many places, the Zerohedge author implies it is a current event, stating:

> The video shows the woman breaking apart the corpse of a boiled bat, dipping its wing in sauce and eating it.

> Meanwhile, the scale of the coronavirus outbreak continues to escalate.

This is clearly misleading. Additionally, the description of the bat’s “corpse” is reminiscent of PETA writing about meat farms. I suspect this writing style only appears when the author is projecting a bias.

Next, the first photo featuring a girl holding a bat has a Chinese caption. Below this Chinese caption is an English caption, somewhat loosely implying a translation. This English caption mentions eating bats as a commonplace event in China. Not only is this fact itself debatable, but it does not translate any part of the Chinese caption, which roughly says “As the Coronavirus news spreads, the news about bats containing lots of viruses is once again garnering attention.”

Next, there is a lengthy Chinese tweet quoted. The English of the article does not reference the content of this tweet a single time, instead appearing to imply that it supports whatever claims he is making and assuming the reader will not understand the tweet. The tweet itself says that, loosely, research has found that bats could be the source of the coronavirus and this older bat eating video is once again making the social media rounds, prompting another public apology from the woman in the video. The article says, directly preceding the quote: > The woman featured in the clip took to social media to profusely apologize for her role in encouraging the consumption of bats and encouraged everyone to start washing their hands more.

Indeed tangential, but not related.

Essentially every claim in the article is unsourced and largely unsubstantiated, and it paints the Chinese in a very negative light, with many heavily prejudiced and vulgar portrayals of China and Chinese food. So, in this case, yes this article is invalid.

On top of all of this, you took the invalid claim that a tv show featured a bat being eaten and turned it into “bats are eaten on tv, commonly”. This is disingenuous on your part, on top of an already disingenuous source.

[1] remember when Ozzy ate a bat’s head on stage?

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The claim is the virus originated from a wet market where animals like bats sold for food, so it’s not inaccurate to suggest it was transmitted by bats meant for human consumption. It absolutely is. You don't have any evidence for this, just speculation. Is it plausible? Sure. Is it "most probably" (as the commenter above suggested, linking to a source)? No, there's no evidence cited that the disease was spread by…

It's been reported that there are tv shows in China where bats are eaten [1] Not a great source but it links to official China Gov sources. [1] https://www.zerohedge.com/health/chinese-government-forces-t...

This claim is invalid. See my response here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22151968

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#323
post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does official information relayed through somewhat unreliable sources invalidate the quality of said information?

I did not see any links to any official government documents on that page. Indeed, I saw very little attribution for many claims. The article is fraught with cultural bias against China, and additionally, I noticed multiple misleading remarks. Starting from the title. The “TV show” the article refers to was actually just an internet video post. Additionally, this was a one-off event from 2016, and it caused outrage a…

I appreciate you taking time to respond to the article - which is indeed rubbish.

However, I would think it fairly uncontroversial, and readily provable, that bat meat is indeed eaten in China [1]- which is the claim that I was making earlier. Personally, I wouldn't claim at this point in time that the virus originated from bats or other animals - although it is certainly possible.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=bat+soup+delicacy+china&sour...

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#324
post #21

From what I've read it came from bats. Most probably bats being eaten.[1] Bats have been the source of at least 4 pandemics. It's interesting to note that current coronavirus spreading in China and the SARS outbreak of 2003 have two things in common: Both are from the coronavirus family, and both were passed from animals to humans in a wet market.[2] I tried to put together a page for coronavirus in China here where…

I think you might be confused about "bats being eaten". A theory on SARS is that it was spread by bats eating fruit, leaving guano on it, civets eat the guano-laced fruit, people eat the civets. Just because bats are an important part of the vector doesn't mean that people are eating them directly. I haven't seen anyone claim, for example, that live bats were actually sold at the Wuhan wet markets. But civets are, il…

Perhaps, but nevertheless the CCP gov had a media star apologize for “popularizing” eating bat soup.

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#325

Can someone explain https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?RID=2PUA1EJK114&CMD... to me? This is a comparison between 'bat SARS-like coronavirus' and 'Wuhan seafood market pneumonia virus'. Under Alignments, it looks like the envelope proteins are identical. Wouldn't that be unlikely for a natural mutation? Would this not lead credence to this being a leak from their BSL-4 lab about twenty miles away from the Wuhan…

> https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?RID=2PUA1EJK114&CMD...

This link is no longer working ("Error: Results for RID 2PUA1EJK114 not found", at least for me), mirror: http://archive.md/zyYYY

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are powers definitely working on it. "Super" just doesn't mean "kills as much people as efficiently as possible". Ability to control the destruction is a crucial feature of any weapon. In the past, this perhaps meant viruses that fizzle out quickly, so they could be deployed on enemy territory. Today, with recent breakthroughs in genetic engineering, that likely means aiming for high selectivity - targeting eth…

Do you have a source about people working on it? Or is this a blacks op kind of thing so no one would admit to it publicly anyway, thus making it an unfalsifiable statement?

> Lab-made coronavirus related to SARS can infect human cells.

https://www.nature.com/news/engineered-bat-virus-stirs-debat...

Two of the researchers are from Wuhan Biosafety Lab (Zhengli-Li Shi & Xing-Yi Ge).

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#327
post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not see any links to any official government documents on that page. Indeed, I saw very little attribution for many claims. The article is fraught with cultural bias against China, and additionally, I noticed multiple misleading remarks. Starting from the title. The “TV show” the article refers to was actually just an internet video post. Additionally, this was a one-off event from 2016, and it caused outrage a…

I appreciate you taking time to respond to the article - which is indeed rubbish. However, I would think it fairly uncontroversial, and readily provable, that bat meat is indeed eaten in China [1]- which is the claim that I was making earlier. Personally, I wouldn't claim at this point in time that the virus originated from bats or other animals - although it is certainly possible. [1] https://www.google.com/search?q…

So to

> It absolutely is. You don't have any evidence for this, just speculation. Is it plausible? Sure. Is it "most probably" (as the commenter above suggested, linking to a source)? No, there's no evidence cited that the disease was spread by eating bats in the article.

You replied

> It's been reported that there are tv shows in China where bats are eaten [1] Not a great source but it links to official China Gov sources.

But later stated

> However, I would think it fairly uncontroversial, and readily provable, that bat meat is indeed eaten in China [1]- which is the claim that I was making earlier.

Effectively, what you've said then was entirely a non-sequitur to what I was discussing, which was the specific claim about whether or not there is enough evidence (presented here, anyway) to claim that bat consumption is the "most probable" cause of the disease, or even if consumption at all will be linked to the disease (rather than proximity/hygiene).

In fact, you later stated that you agree with my point.

> Personally, I wouldn't claim at this point in time that the virus originated from bats or other animals - although it is certainly possible.

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#328
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal (not official) reports suggest as many as 100,000 infections in Wuhan area. There are claims the virus may be spread through eyes as well as inhalation. Additional unsubstantiated claims suggest low to no fever during incubation period, making detection difficult. The most sensationalist claim making the rounds is that a known Wuhan area PLA biolab may have failed to contain this pathogen. In the end none o…

What do you mean anecdotal? I'm really confused at how you even came up with that number. Unless you have some type of firsthand experience.

A few experts in the field have tweeted this speculation.

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#329
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't the very fact people eat bats alarming? Who would eat bats voluntarily? They probably don't have much choice there.

In Asia people eat a lot of really weird stuff for us Westerners. I live in Thailand with my Thai girlfriend. I don't understand why my girlfriend likes to eat various kinds of insects and larva and why people in my village like to eat a pigs' brains. Yesterday my girlfriend showed me a YouTube movie of a Chinese girl eating a live octopus. I also know some people like to eat snakes around here. Different strokes for…

Eating brains is dangerous - there is a risk of a prion infection.

Re: New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market

#330
post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people eat crocodiles, horse meat, etc. Eating cows or pigs themselves is pretty weird on itself, especially if you see how they kill and process the animal. The fact that we are used to se things is all that counts. That being said, viruses were not transmitted by people eating bats. It was a species of cats that got infected by bats. As for cat consumption, well it is very easy to dupe somebody to eat cat meat…

Good points. In Australia, they also pride themselves on eating kangaroo meat. Can you imagine people eating a little baby Joey kangaroo? But nobody bats an eye at this, or claim the Australians are backwards for propagating such a practice.

"Little baby Joey kangaroo" I take it you're not from Australia.
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