Traces of corona epidemic happened in East Asia more than 20,000 years ago - Discovered by genome research

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

東アジア、２万年以上前にコロナ流行の痕跡　ゲノム研究で発見

2021.06.27 Sun posted at 15:02 JST

 （ＣＮＮ） 東アジアで２万年以上前にコロナウイルスが流行していたとする研究結果が報告された。米豪共同の研究チームが世界各地に住む人々の全遺伝情報（ゲノム）を解析し、米科学誌カレント・バイオロジーに論文を発表した。

２４日に発表された論文によると、世界２６カ所で計２５００人あまりのゲノムを解析した結果、東アジアに住む人々の遺伝子に、コロナウイルスとの最も古い接触を示す痕跡が見つかった。

チームの研究者によると、ウイルスは一般に人間の細胞に乗っ取って増殖し、人間側の遺伝子はこれに応じて変化を起こす。最近の研究で、その痕跡を数万年前までさかのぼって検出できるようになった。

コロナウイルスに関連する変化は中国と日本、ベトナム国内の計５カ所で見つかった。チームは、各地で別々に起きた流行が東アジア全体に広がったとの見方を示す。

インフルエンザのように季節性のある流行だったのか、新型コロナウイルスのように通年発生していたのかは明らかでないという。

感染を経験して遺伝子が変化した集団は、コロナウイルスに打ち勝つ力をつけて生存競争に有利となり、長い年月を経て人口全体に占める割合が大きくなったと考えられる。

Translation

2021.06.27 Sun posted at 15:02 JST

 (CNN) Research results had reported that the coronavirus was prevalent in East Asia more than 20,000 years ago. A US-Australia joint research team analyzed the entire genetic information (genome) of people living all over the world and published a paper in a US scientific journal Current Biology.

According to a paper published on the 24th, the genomes of a total of more than 2,500 people in 26 locations around the world were analyzed, and as a result, traces of the oldest contact with coronavirus were found in the genes of people living in East Asia.

According to the team's researchers, the virus generally hijacked human cells and propagated, and the genes of the human changed accordingly. Recent studies made it possible to detect traces dating back tens of thousands of years.

Coronavirus-related changes were found in a total of five locations in China, Japan and Vietnam. The team said the epidemics that occurred separately in each region and spread out to the whole East Asia.

It's unclear whether it was a seasonal epidemic like the flu or a year-round outbreak like the new coronavirus.

It was thought that those groups whose genes had been changed after experiencing the infection could gain the ability to overcome the coronavirus and gain an advantage in the survival competition. Over the years, its proportion in the total population increased.

              So, according to this paper, traces of the oldest contact with coronavirus were found in the genes of people living in East Asia. While it's unclear whether it was a seasonal epidemic like the flu or a year-round outbreak like the new coronavirus, it shows that coronavirus is something constantly affecting us since many years ago.