Where Did The Coronavirus Start? Virus Hunters Find Clues In Bats

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2020

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bats are critically important for ecosystems around the world. But they also harbor some of the toughest known zoonotic diseases, and are the likely origin point for this coronavirus. Short Wave reporter Emily Kwong talks about leading theories on where this coronavirus came from, the work of virus hunters, and the rise of emerging zoonotic diseases.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to shortwave from MPR.
0:05.9	Sorry, I have an important message.
0:07.8	People just sent me a head to type, okay?
0:10.0	Okay, please.
0:11.8	We're looking at war zone rhinos.
0:13.3	Everything comes to be very, very fast.
0:15.2	And they want to answer, you know.
0:16.7	So, Maddie, this is Dr. Lin Fa Wong.
0:19.8	I reached him in Singapore.
0:22.0	He and his team have been working around the clock
0:24.7	to help that country fight this coronavirus.
0:27.4	He hasn't hugged his daughter in over two months.
0:30.0	And he's been interviewed over a hundred times.
0:32.5	BBC Sky News, you know, CNN, you know, ABC.
0:37.1	MPR's morning edition.
0:38.7	Dr. Lin Fa Wong is a virologist
0:41.0	at the Duke National University of Singapore.
0:43.2	He joins me on Skype.
0:44.3	Dr. thinks we're being here.
0:45.4	Thank you for having me.
0:46.3	What up, Noel Kay?
0:47.4	That's right.
	...

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