Ishii to Science: "Trump owes us an apology"

an interview with Shi Zhengli, a Chinese scientist, published on July 24th on the website of the American journal Science. In this report, Shi Zhengli, a researcher at the Wuhan Virus Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, answered a series of questions about the source of the new coronavirus and the work of the institute. This newspaper is authorized by the American Association for the Promotion of Science (AAAS) to translate and publish the full text of the interview with Shi Zhengli in the journal Science.: Virus cross-species infection incidents have always existed, our country in scientific research projects, facilities and equipment and personnel team building have been deployed. Our research confirms and supports the increasing risk of infection as the scope and frequency of global climate change and human activity increase. Our research does not address the scale of transmission, etc.: This outbreak on the one hand let me deeply realize the importance of our work, must continue. On the other hand, I also recognize that we may be better prepared, for example, in the basic research and technical stocks of vaccines and therapeutic drugs.: According to our team and our international counterparts, it is likely to have originated from bats, which evolved within one or more intermediate hosts and eventually resulted in a virus that adapts to and spreads from person to person. But it is not clear which or which animals the intermediate host is and how it spreads to humans.: There are two possibilities for cross-species transmission from natural host bats, one is that bats transmit the virus directly to humans, and the other is that bat viruses spread to one or more animals. For SARS-CoV-2, the first possibility cannot be ruled out, but it is very, very small. I prefer the second possibility.
new coronavirus first spread from intermediate host to human cross-species, when and where, there is no scientific research. Historically, the first outbreaks of major diseases, such as AIDS, were not of origin (initial cross-species transmission). This is also one of the important reasons why virus tracing is a challenging scientific challenge, and the source and transmission path of the new coronavirus in 2019 requires a broad vision, the joint efforts of scientists from all over the world, and takes time.
we have been monitoring the bat virus in Hubei for many years and have not found that bats in Wuhan or even Hubei province carry coronavirus that is closely related to SARS-CoV-2. I think the possibility of the source of the new crown in Wuhan, Hubei Province is basically non-existent.
you should be referring to the bat hole in the town of Mojiang Customs in Yunnan Province. So far, no nearby residents have been infected with coronavirus, the so-called mining area near the living infected "patient zero" to Wuhan is not true.: As you pointed out, some early patients have nothing to do with the South China seafood market. We detected SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in environmental samples such as curtain door handles, ground and sewage at the South China Seafood Market, and we did not detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in frozen animal samples. The market may be the site of an early outbreak of neo-coronavirus pneumonia.: With the deployment of the relevant departments of hubei Provincial Government, Huahua Agricultural University and our team have collected environmental samples and frozen animal samples at the South China Seafood Market. We only detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids in environmental samples such as curtain door handles, ground and sewage.: With the deployment of the relevant departments of the Hubei Provincial Government, Huahua Agricultural University and our team have collected samples of farmed wild animals and livestock from farms around Wuhan city and in some farms in Hubei Province, and our team has not detected SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in these samples.: We detected SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid in environmental samples from the South China seafood market, including curtain door handles, floors and sewage, with very low gene copies.: I did not participate in the epidemiological survey, this aspect is not clear. Our laboratory received its first clinical sample of "unexplained pneumonia" on 30 December.: I can't judge until I'm sure of the answer. Virus tracing is a scientific problem, which is up to scientists to speak with scientific facts and evidence. But the historical experience mentioned earlier is worth paying attention to.: We have no professional training in bioinsyntics, and we have not calculated the evolutionary distance between RaTG13 and SARS-CoV-2. I think the evolution from a coronavirus carried by a natural host to SARS-CoV-2 should be transmitted through one or more intermediate hosts.
the genetic sequences of coronavirus, RaTG13, and SARS-CoV-2 carried by the manicure were relatively close and shared a common ancestor. From the current data analysis, I can not determine whether the roller is a natural host or an intermediate host.: I don't have any information on this. : The results of antibody tests on cat serum samples taken after the outbreak of neo-crown pneumonia showed that the proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infected with home-based cats and their antibody levels were higher than those of stray cats. So I think it's very likely that the CAT-infected SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted by people. : Whether a cat is the intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2 requires further study. Our team did not proceed with the study. From what we and other teams have studied so far, cats may be infected. : China has a number of teams in the organization to carry out research in this area. We've been publishing articles and public data, and we've published articles about virus tracing, and we're doing tracing in a variety of directions and paths. : We first came into contact with the new coronavirus sample on December 30, 2019, when we received a clinical sample of "unexplained pneumonia". A follow-up parallel study with other agencies in the country followed, identifying the pathogen in a relatively short period of time and releasing the virus genome-wide sequence to the world in a timely manner through WHO on 12 January 2020. Until then, we had never been exposed to, studied, and did not know it existed.
the natural origin of the new coronavirus has now become the international academic consensus. U.S. President Donald Trump's claim that the new coronavirus comes from our lab ignores facts and harms and affects our academic work and personal lives. He owes us an apology. : Of the three SARS-like coronavirus isolated so far in our laboratory, the closest to the new coronavirus is the genome similarity of only 79.8%, the difference is very significant. In a paper published February 3 in the journal Nature, we report a bat virus (named RaTG13) that is 96.2% similar to the new coronavirus. Coronavirus is one of the largest animal RNA viruses, with a genome of up to 30,000 nucleotides. The 3.8% difference in genomic sequence is a significant difference for coronavirus. On March 18, five leading scholars from the Scripps Institute, Columbia University, Tulane University, University of Edinburgh, and the University of Sydney, Australia, published an article entitled "The Possible Origin Path of SARS-CoV-2" in Nature Medicine, noting that the difference between RaTG13 and the neo-coronavirus in the subject binding region is still evident. On April 23, VOX News quoted Edward Holmes, a virus evolution expert at the University of Sydney, as saying that differences in the genome between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 are equivalent to differentiations from about 50 years of natural evolution. The number of RaTG13 and neo-coronavirus genome differentials carried by bats reaches 1,177, and it is only theoretically possible that RaTG13 will evolve into a new coronavirus in nature after a long process of accumulating a sufficient number of mutations that are highly consistent with the corresponding endpoints of the new coronavirus.
the same time, the Institute's experimental virological research activities are carried out in strict compliance with international and national biosecurity laboratory management and experimental activities management requirements, in the corresponding biosethics laboratory. Among them, P3 and P4 laboratories are very strict from facility to management. For example, researchers must wear personal protective equipment, the air in the laboratory must be efficiently filtered to be discharged, waste water and solid waste must be treated with high temperature, auto-sterilization, etc. The entire process of experimental activities carried out by the experimenters will be monitored by biosecurity managers via video. The implementation of the laboratory facilities and equipment and biosecurity management system must be supervised and evaluated by the relevant national professional departments every year before it can continue to operate. Our high-level biosecurity laboratories have been operating safely and steadily, with no pathogen leaks or human infections to date. : We isolated only three bats with SARS-like coronavirus, which are 95% to 96% similar to the SARS virus genome and less than 80% similar to SARS-CoV-2. The results were published in Nature (2013, 503 (7477): 535-538), Journal of Virology (2016, 90 (6), 3253-3256) and PLoS Pathogens (2017, 13 (11): e1006698. : We isolate the virus from the sample or extract nucleic acids, mainly in Wuhan to complete the sequencing work. : We have done genetically modified (human ACE2) mouse infection experiments and fruit beaver infection experiments in the Institute's biosecurity laboratory from 2018 to 2019, using a virus similar to the SARS virus bat SARS-like coronavirus, related work in strict accordance with China's biosecurity regulations on pathogenic microbiology laboratory and other regulations. The results showed that bat SARS-like coronavirus could infect fruit beavers directly or mice through human ACE2 lithums. However, the disease resistance of mice is low, and the fruit beaver is not disease-causing. The results are being sorted out and will be made public as soon as possible. : You said this may never have happened. We recently tested the serum of all laboratory personnel, and no one was infected with bat-like coronavirus and SARS-CoV-2. So far, the total number of people in the institute has been zero. : We tested all bat samples collected, including bat swabs, pharynx swabs and feces samples, of which 2007 were positive for coronavirus. With the exception of RaTG13, no coronavirus was found that was closer to the SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence. : We obtained the first samples from 7 patients on December 30, 2019. Through the universal RT-PCR method for coronavirus and the quantitative RT-PCR method for detecting all SARS-related coronavirus, we found that five of the patient samples were positive. On December 31st, when we sequenced the coronavirus universal RT-PCR augment, we found that this was a new type of SARS-related coronavirus. In the meantime, we conducted genome-wide sequencing and virus isolation through data analysis and multi-party validation, and on 12 January we made the whole genome sequence of the virus available globally through WHO. : We obtained the sample in 2013 from a bat dung swab in the town of Guanguan in Mojiang County, Yunnan Province, and obtained part of the RdRp sequence through the coronavirus General Nucleic Acid Test (RT-PCR). Because the sequence is not very similar to SARS coronavirus, we are not paying particular attention to this sequence. In 2018, with the improvement of sequencing technology, we sequenced the remaining samples to obtain a genome-wide sequence of RaTG13 with the exception of 15 nucleotides at the five ends. Due to the use of samples to extract viral nucleic acids several times during the experiment, after the completion of the sequencing of the virus genome, the laboratory no longer has the sample, nor has the virus isolation and other further research. In addition, the RaTG13 virus was detected in only one of the many bat samples collected in the laboratory. In 2020, after obtaining the SARS-CoV-2 sequence, we compared it with all unresolved sequences and found that RaTG13 had a 96.2% sequence consistency with the new coronavirus. The virus has never been isolated and cultured. : Ra4991 is a field sample number, and RaTG13 is a coronavirus number measured in the sample. When we change the name, we mainly consider reflecting the time and place of the sample, 13 is the year of sampling 2013, and TG is the initials of customs clearance. : Due to financial and human resources, it is not possible to complete the determination of the whole genome sequence of all samples. It is hoped that the whole genome sequence of coronavirus in some samples will be determined within the next 2 years. It should be noted that some samples of viral nucleic acids are so low that it is not possible to obtain genome-wide sequences. : No. : Based on the daily academic exchanges and discussions to understand the situation, I do not think there is such a possibility. : With the emergence of new outbreaks of infectious diseases around the world, scientists from all over the world fully understand the situation of wildlife carrying the virus, not only from the source of early warning of new outbreaks of infectious diseases, but also an important scientific basis for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Against this background, I have conducted cooperative research with Peter Daszak, President and Chief Scientist of the American Ecological Health Alliance, and have established good cooperative relations in the areas of virus monitoring and discovery of new pathogens. The team found a variety of different sequences of coronavirus in bat populations, some of which have the potential to spread across species to humans and animals, such as SARS-related coronavirus, MERS-related coronavirus, SADS-related coronavirus, etc., providing important clues for the prevention and control of related infectious diseases.
we do not understand and regret that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stopped funding our partnership projects. The project, which is expected to be an international collaborative project to bring together scientists around the world for early warning and prediction of infectious diseases, will further advance vaccine and drug development to protect us from the threat posed by coronavirus.
the past 20 years of experience, the coronavirus has been dry