An international team of researchers analyzed frozen tissue samples from 18 Malayan pangolins collected during anti-smuggling operations at Guangxi Customs in southern China.
The sale of pangolin in wet markets should be strictly prohibited after samples of the animal were found by researchers to contain viruses similar to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 disease pandemic.came to this conclusion after analyzing frozen tissue samples from 18 Malayan pangolins collected during anti-smuggling operations at Guangxi Customs in southern China between August 2017 and January 2018.
But Professor Andrew Cunningham, Deputy Director of Science, Zoological Society of London , said it was important not to jump to too many conclusions.Newsweek Last year, Cunningham co-authored a paper on beta coronaviruses found in British hedgehogs, a group that contains SARS coronaviruses. According to the World Wildlife Fund, pangolins are the most trafficked animals in the world and are highly sought after in China and Vietnam where they are prized for their meat, which is considered a delicacy, and scales, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. While trade in pangolin products is strictly illegal, it is estimated that around 1,000,000 animals have been trafficked in the last year.
"The highest priority for the protection of human health is, therefore, to ban 'wet' markets and to carefully regulate any future legal wildlife trade."
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