Coronavirus. The pangolin, this small mammal suspected of having transmitted the virus to humans

Researchers at the Southern China University of Agriculture have identified pangolin as a possible intermediate host that facilitated the transmission of the virus, the university said in a statement, without further details.

Probable intermediary between the bat and humans

An animal that harbors a virus without being sick and can transmit it to other species is called a reservoir . In the case of the new coronavirus, it is certainly a bat: according to a recent study, the genomes of this virus and of those which circulate in this animal are identical to 96%.

But as the bat virus is not equipped to attach to human receptors, it probably passed through another species to adapt to humans, called the intermediate host .

Given the nature of this coronavirus, experts suspected the intermediate host to be a mammal. The hypothesis of a snake, long gone, had quickly been swept away .

During the SARS epidemic (2002-2003), also caused by a coronavirus, the intermediary was the civet, a small mammal whose meat is appreciated in China.

However, after testing more than 1,000 samples from wild animals, scientists have determined that the genomes of virus sequences taken from pangolins are 99% identical to those found in patients with the new coronavirus, according to the new China state agency.

The new virus appeared in December in a market in Wuhan (central China), where many animals, including wild mammals, were sold for food.

The most poached species in the world

As part of its measures to stem the recent epidemic, China announced at the end of January a temporary ban on the trade in wild animals, banning for an indefinite period the breeding, transport or sale of all wild animal species.

Nearly 100,000 pangolins are victims each year in Asia and Africa of an illegal traffic which makes it the most poached species in the world, largely in front of the much more publicized elephants or rhinoceros, according to the NGO WildAid.

Their delicate flesh is highly prized by Chinese and Vietnamese gourmets, as are their scales, their bones and their organs in traditional Asian medicine.

Such wildlife trade is responsible for terrible suffering for animals and endangers human health, as we can see today , said Neil D’Cruze, an official with the World Animal Protection organization. (WAP), in a press release.

If we are to do everything in our power to prevent epidemics of deadly diseases such as the coronavirus, then a permanent ban on wildlife trade, in China and around the world, is the only solution , he said. valued.

In 2016, the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) voted to include pangolins in its appendix I, which strictly prohibits its trade. Despite this measure, their traffic has only increased, according to NGOs.