China’s Bat Woman Fears COVID-19 May Just Be the Tip of the Iceberg

(Photo : Unsplash/Steven Pahel)

One of the biggest feats that the Chinese have done amidst the coronavirus outbreak is when one Chinese scientist did something next to impossible by being able to unlock the genetic code of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, only a few days after the first cases were reported.

However, such information was withheld by the government for a full week from the rest of the world and only released it when the virus has already spread like a wildfire and turned into a pandemic.

Virologist Shi Zhengli was the brain behind the discovery. However, she was prevented from releasing the true results of her studies, which prompted speculations of the Chinese authorities covering-up the situation.

In her experience with bats and coronaviruses, Zhengli has discovered a number of viruses that exhibit SARS-like characteristics in bat caves. Before the outbreak in Wuhan, she was tasked to study samples from the people who first experienced the symptoms of a new and mysterious respiratory illness. Afterwhich, she was able to confirm that the virus was sort of similar to SARS.

The virus was then identified as the novel coronavirus and after only three days of having access to samples, Zhengli was able to isolate and complete the gene-sequencing of SARS-CoV-2. She confirmed that it was almost identical to a virus found in horseshoe bats in Yunnan cave by almost 96%. The gene-sequencing was remarkable since what could have been done in a span of months to years was done in just days.

At the moment, the genetic information that was isolated from the patients is being used in a race to develop vaccines and cure for the killer disease that has already infected as many as 2 million people and 113,000 deaths worldwide.

China's Bat Woman

Zhengli has been a virologist for 16 years and is looked up to as one of the world's experts on coronaviruses even earning her a nickname as China's "Bat Woman." She was called back to Wuhan when the outbreak started late in December while she was in a conference outside the city.

In the past months, Zhengli along with her team did not only work to identify the genetic code of the virus but also worked hard in order to further understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Their research also sparked fear in the team that the outbreak may have been unleashed from one of their laboratories.

However, the scientific community which has also looked into the pandemic has seen almost all evidence leading the origin of the outbreak at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan where the majority of the first people who were infected were linked. The market is also known for selling game meat including pangolins, which is believed to possibly be the link between bats and human transmission of the virus.

There is no definite conclusion yet on where the virus originated or how it was released to the world, but scientists including China's "Bat Woman" are doing what they can to figure out the mystery of SARS-CoV-2 which may lead us to uncover its secrets and figure out how to win this fight.

But at the moment, Zhengli has an issued a warning that the COVID-19 pandemic may just be the tip of the iceberg.