1. The whole pangolin-as-intermediary theory rests on one single sequenced pangolin SARS-CoV virus, published in Fall 2019 by Guangdong virologists, who were sampling pangolins that had been seized from smugglers that Spring. Nobody has ever found a pangolin virus like that againhttps://twitter.com/UngeheuerDarin/status/1401992628028297218 …
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2. The virus they found had nearly-identical spike protein to SARS-2. Otherwise it was more distant. The spike is a big part of what determines inter-species compatibility. If this spike could infect pangolins & humans, maybe pangolins were intermediary.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/11/11/979/htm …
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3. The origins of this 2019 paper should be a matter of great moment to everyone. Were Chinese virologists widely sampling smuggled pangolins in 2019? If so, why? If not, why this one batch?
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4. The pangolins were severely ill with SARS-like symptoms and most of them died within a few months of their seizure. Given that nobody has been able to find this mysterious virus in any pangolin ever again (and I assure you, it's not for want of trying) ...
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5. ... the more probable hypothesis would seem to be that the pangolins were not the ordinary host for this virus; and that they picked it up somewhere in the animal-smuggling chain. That is of course if you believe this story is real.
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6. After Corona hit, a small group of (mostly Chinese) papers started pointing to pangolins as a possible animal intermediary. The virus sequences they presented were all more or less ripped from the 2019 paper. To varying degrees they all obfuscated this.https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.07.184374v2.full …
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Replying to @eugyppius1
"We have a corpse. Quick, find some poor sap to hold this smoking gun ..."
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If it's not simple plagiarism, the purpose of the obfuscation in these 2020 studies seems to be to create the impression that this pangolin SARS virus with the special spike has been found more than just once. i.e., that it might be some kind of ordinary pangolin virus.pic.twitter.com/4ZfZCiPQ1w
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