Bat derived material for traditional chinese medicine may have caused the coronavirus pandemic

Researchers have proposed horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) as the most likely source for SARS-CoV-2 as it shares 96% of its genetic material with a known coronavirus harboured in these bats.

In traditional chinese medicine horseshoe bat faeces (Ye Ming Sha) are used to cure night blindness, swelling and pain in the eyes, infantile malnutrition, scrofula, and malaria.

A 100 gram bag of Ye Ming Sha can be bought online for USD 12,38 (https://www.bestplant.shop/products/ye-ming-sha-bat-feces-bat-dung-bat-guano). The coronavirus has been traced back to the Huanan seafoods wholesale market in Wuhan. Because the trading of bats and of bat faeces obviously is a profitable business that probably also took place there.

The usage of bat faeces as an eye medicine could be highly risky in case an animal was infected with a coronavirus as the virus can be present in faeces and can enter a host via the eye. It is very likely that bat‐derived materials sold for traditional chinese medicine practices have been involved in this outbreak.

The trading and handling of bats and bat derived materials for traditional medicinal practices remain a serious risk for future zoonotic coronavirus epidemics.

Sources:
https://cmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13020-019-0253-x/tables/1
https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/lam.13285