In recent months, consideration of the so-called lab leak hypothesis has seemingly gained momentum By Jessica McDonald •
NBC Universal, Inc.
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic and with a death toll approaching 4 million lives how the coronavirus came to spark a global scourge remains unknown. Was it the result of a spillover from an animal to a human, as has happened repeatedly in the past? Or did the virus accidentally escape from a nearby lab in Wuhan?
The default answer for most scientists has been that the virus, SARS-CoV-2, probably made the jump to humans from bats, if it was a direct spillover or, more likely, through one or more intermediate mammals. That’s what happened with the coronaviruses responsible for SARS and MERS, and such zoonotic events are standard fare for emerging pathogens.
Where Did COVID-19 Start? The Facts and Mysteries of Its Origin
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The Facts – and Gaps – on the Origin of the Coronavirus
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USDA ARS
A Hereford cow and calf roam in Miles City, Mont. Scientists developed a vaccine for foothill abortion, a tick-borne malady that devastated calf populations in the West. How scientists removed one of the most devastating impediments to cattle production in the West.
This mysterious cause of abortion in cattle was first recognized in foothill regions of coastal and central California, but also occurs in southern Oregon, parts of Nevada and Arizona.
The pathogen causing death of the fetus is transmitted by bites of a soft-bodied tick (
Ornithodoros
coriaceus) that inhabits these regions. Jeff Stott, a professor in the University of California, Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine, has spent more than 40 years studying this disease and the ticks that cause it.