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 https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-do-animal-viruses-like-coronavirus-jump-species-20200225/Zoonotic diseases like influenza and many coronaviruses start out in animals, but their biological machinery often enables them to jump to humans.

Where do these viruses come from? MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV appear to originate in animals, and the same is likely true of SARS-CoV-2. This makes them zoonoses, diseases that can jump between humans and other animals. MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV were originally bat viruses that spread to an intermediate animal (camel and civet cat, respectively), which then exposed humans to the viruses. Genetic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 sequences shows that their closest genetic relatives appear to be bat coronaviruses, with the role of intermediate species possibly played by the pangolin, an endangered species trafficked in China for its scales and meat. There are four coronaviruses that cause colds in humans — known as HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43 and HCoV-HKU1 — and these also seem to have zoonotic origins.

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