There's different types of evidence for infected civets, some of which comes from higher seroprevalence among civet traders.
In May 2003, Guan et al (2003) identified SARS-CoV-like virus in animals in a live-animal market in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Guan et al (2003) also tested for antibodies among workers in the market. They note that “8 out of 20 (40%) of the wild-animal traders and 3 of 15 (20%) of those who slaughter these animals had evidence of antibody, only 1 (5%) of 20 vegetable traders was seropositive.” This suggests that the majority of the infections of the 11 people with close contact with animals were zoonotic.
Among 508 animal traders, 66 (13%) tested positive for IgG antibody to SARS associated coronavirus by ELISA, while the control groups including hospital workers, Guangdong CDC workers, and healthy adults at clinic had an antibody prevalence of 1–3%. Among animal traders, the highest prevalence of antibody was found among those who traded primarily masked palm civets (72.7%), wild boars (57.1%), muntjac deer (56.3%), hares (46.2%), and pheasant (33.3%). Those for cat, other fowl, and snake were 18.6%, 12%, and 9.2%, respectively.
We have no such evidence for covid. As I have noted, none of the cases in the market worked at the animal stalls; there is no evidence that they had close contact with animals.
That's an interesting result and something similar was later found for wildlife workers in Myanmar and Laos -- antibodies to SARS viruses but the workers themselves having no memory of being sick. However one reason we have no such evidence for COVID is because this kind of testing for workers at the Huanan Market was never released by China. There also is an article stating that one of the first to get sick at the market interacted with animals, although it's unclear to me whether this person was included in the WHO report or not. The first known case at the market, the shrimp vendor, has said she thinks she may have been infected by sharing a toilet with the wild game traders.
There's different types of evidence for infected civets, some of which comes from higher seroprevalence among civet traders.
In May 2003, Guan et al (2003) identified SARS-CoV-like virus in animals in a live-animal market in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. Guan et al (2003) also tested for antibodies among workers in the market. They note that “8 out of 20 (40%) of the wild-animal traders and 3 of 15 (20%) of those who slaughter these animals had evidence of antibody, only 1 (5%) of 20 vegetable traders was seropositive.” This suggests that the majority of the infections of the 11 people with close contact with animals were zoonotic.
Among 508 animal traders, 66 (13%) tested positive for IgG antibody to SARS associated coronavirus by ELISA, while the control groups including hospital workers, Guangdong CDC workers, and healthy adults at clinic had an antibody prevalence of 1–3%. Among animal traders, the highest prevalence of antibody was found among those who traded primarily masked palm civets (72.7%), wild boars (57.1%), muntjac deer (56.3%), hares (46.2%), and pheasant (33.3%). Those for cat, other fowl, and snake were 18.6%, 12%, and 9.2%, respectively.
We have no such evidence for covid. As I have noted, none of the cases in the market worked at the animal stalls; there is no evidence that they had close contact with animals.
That's an interesting result and something similar was later found for wildlife workers in Myanmar and Laos -- antibodies to SARS viruses but the workers themselves having no memory of being sick. However one reason we have no such evidence for COVID is because this kind of testing for workers at the Huanan Market was never released by China. There also is an article stating that one of the first to get sick at the market interacted with animals, although it's unclear to me whether this person was included in the WHO report or not. The first known case at the market, the shrimp vendor, has said she thinks she may have been infected by sharing a toilet with the wild game traders.