Author, as appears in the article.: Domingo, Jose L.;

Department: Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques

URV's Author/s: Domingo Roig, José Luis

Keywords: Zoonotic origin Unnatural origin Scopus Sars-cov-2 Sars coronavirus Pandemics Pandemic Information system Information management Humans Human Epidemic Covid-19 Coronavirus Chiroptera Bibliometrics Bat Animals Animal

Abstract: Since the appearance of the first cases of COVID-19 in 2019, an unprecedented number of documents on that disease have been published in a short space of time. The current available information covers a large number of topics related with COVID-19 and/or the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) responsible of the disease. However, only a limited number of publications have been focused on a controversial issue: the origin of the SARS-CoV-2. In this paper, the scientific literature on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has been reviewed. Documents published during 2020 and 2021 (January 1-July 19) in journals that are indexed in PubMed and/or Scopus has been considered. The revised studies were grouped according to these two potential origins: natural and unnatural. The analyses of the conclusions of the different documents here assessed show that even considering the zoonotic hypothesis as the most likely, with bats and pangolins being possibly in the origin of the coronavirus, today's date the intermediate source species of SARS-CoV-2 has not been confirmed yet. On the other hand, some researchers point to an unnatural origin of this coronavirus, but their conclusions are not strongly supported by a clear scientific evidence. Given the tremendous severity of the current pandemic, investigations to establish clearly and definitively the origin of SARS-CoV-2, are basic and essential in order to prevent potential future pandemics of similar nature.

Thematic Areas: Zootecnia / recursos pesqueiros Saúde coletiva Química Public, environmental & occupational health Psicología Planejamento urbano e regional / demografia Odontología Medicina iii Medicina ii Medicina i Materiais Interdisciplinar Geociências General medicine General environmental science Farmacia Environmental sciences Environmental science (miscellaneous) Environmental science (all) Ensino Engenharias iii Engenharias ii Engenharias i Enfermagem Educação física Direito Ciências biológicas iii Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas i Ciências ambientais Ciências agrárias i Ciência de alimentos Biotecnología Biodiversidade Biochemistry Astronomia / física

licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Author's mail: joseluis.domingo@urv.cat

Author identifier: 0000-0001-6647-9470

Record's date: 2023-02-23

Journal volume: 200

Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935121010793?via%3Dihub

Licence document URL: http://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Papper original source: Environmental Research. 200

APA: Domingo, Jose L.; (2021). What we know and what we need to know about the origin of SARS-CoV-2. Environmental Research, 200(), -. DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111785

Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111785

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Journal publication year: 2021

Publication Type: Journal Publications