A coronavirus epidemic hit East Asia 20,000 years ago A coronavirus epidemic hit East Asia 20,000 years ago
NYT News Service | Jun 28, 2021, 05:18 IST
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Researchers have found evidence that a coronavirus epidemic swept east Asia some 20,000 years ago and was devastating enough to leave an evolutionary imprint on the DNA of people alive today.
The new study suggests that an ancient coronavirus plagued the region for many years, researchers say. The finding could have dire implications for the Covid pandemic if it s not brought under control soon through vaccination. It should make us worry, said David Enard, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who led the study, which was published on Thursday in Current Biology. Until now, researchers could not look back very far into the history of this family of pathogens.