CNN kept the ball rolling for Chinese propagandists reporting that previous coronavirus outbreaks include SARS-CoV in 2002-2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012. Both of these strains originated in bats. SARS was transferred to humans through a masked palm civet, presumably in a Chinese wet market. MERS was transferred through a camel in Saudi Arabia. The protein codes in the Wuhan virus are most similar to those found in snakes, so it is possible that the virus jumped to humans from a snake. Snakes often hunt bats for food, but disease rarely transmits from a warm-blooded animal to a cold-blooded animal.<ref>"[https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/22/health/snakes-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-conversation-partner/index.html Snakes could be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak]," CNN, January 24, 2020.</ref> | CNN kept the ball rolling for Chinese propagandists reporting that previous coronavirus outbreaks include SARS-CoV in 2002-2003 and MERS-CoV in 2012. Both of these strains originated in bats. SARS was transferred to humans through a masked palm civet, presumably in a Chinese wet market. MERS was transferred through a camel in Saudi Arabia. The protein codes in the Wuhan virus are most similar to those found in snakes, so it is possible that the virus jumped to humans from a snake. Snakes often hunt bats for food, but disease rarely transmits from a warm-blooded animal to a cold-blooded animal.<ref>"[https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/22/health/snakes-wuhan-coronavirus-outbreak-conversation-partner/index.html Snakes could be the source of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak]," CNN, January 24, 2020.</ref> |