Did Covid-19 emerge in 2012? How 3 dead Chinese miners could be key to mystery
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, it is "entirely conceivable" that Covid-19 originated from a virus that killed three miners and made another three severely sick after a visit to a bat-infested cave in China, back in 2012.
Fauci has requested China to release the medical records of the miners on Thursday, June 3, along with the records of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers who reportedly fell ill with an unknown Covid-like illness in November 2019.
"I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019," Fauci told the Financial Times. "Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with? The same with the miners who got ill years ago... What do the medical records of those people say? Was there [a] virus in those people? What was it? It is entirely conceivable that the origins of Sars-Cov-2 was in that cave and either started spreading naturally or went through the lab."
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What happened to Chinese miners?
After their 2012 cave visit, samples from four of the six Chinese miners who fell sick were tested for SARS-CoV-2 last year in 2020 and found to be negative. However, according to an October 2020 report published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it is possible that the miners were infected with a related virus, known as the RaTG13, which is the closest known 'relative' to SARS-CoV-2. It was one of many coronaviruses strains Chinese researchers later discovered in the cave.
"It was found that RaTG13/CoV4991 was collected from Tongguan mineshaft in Mojiang, Yunnan, China, in 2013. Surprisingly, the same mineshaft was also associated with a severe pneumonia-like illness in miners in 2012, killing three of the six miners... Retrospective analysis of the pneumonia cases shows striking similarities with Covid-19. Bilateral pneumonia, vascular complications like pulmonary thromboembolism, and secondary infections are the main similarities. The treatment regimes were similar to the current treatments for Covid-19. We propose that the Mojiang mineshaft miners' illness could provide important clues to the origin of SARS-CoV-2," the report read.
DRASTIC, or the Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating Covid-19, was the one who brought to light the fact that the miners died of a SARS-like illness. The group discovered that the miners had tested positive for SARS-like antibodies even though Wuhan Institute of Virology Director Shi Zhengli claimed that the men died due to a fungus from the cave.
Fauci skeptical of lab virus theory
Despite rumors gaining steam in recent weeks that the Covid-19 virus was leaked from the Wuhan lab, Fauci has his doubts. The longstanding director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) says that he still does not believe the Wuhan lab origin theory is the most plausible explanation for the emergence of Covid-19. "I have always felt that the overwhelming likelihood, given the experience we have had with Sars, Mers, Ebola, HIV, bird flu, the swine flu pandemic of 2009, was that the virus jumped species," Fauci said. "But we need to keep on investigating until a possibility is proven."
Fauci is facing backlash after insisting that China release medical records. Jason Miller, former President Donald Trump's adviser and spokesman, tweeted asking why Fauci had not "called for this previously" alongside a link to the Financial Times article.