新型冠状病毒引发的肺炎疫情成为全社会关注的焦点后，有关病毒的来源也是国内外关心的重点问题。然而，科学的真谛在于求真求实用事实说话，而不是网络上流传的各种版本的阴谋论。
2月2日，中国科学院武汉病毒所研究员石正丽在朋友圈中写道，“病毒是大自然给人类不文明生活习惯的惩罚”，并且“用生命担保”，所谓病毒泄漏“与实验室没有关系”。
A scientist from the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has debunked a recent conspiracy which claimed the novel coronavirus was manufactured and escaped from the institute's most advanced biocontainment facility. Shi Zhengli, a researcher from the institute, said on her social media on Sunday the virus was the result of "nature punishing the uncivilized habits and customs of humans", and she is willing to "bet my life that [the outbreak] has nothing to do with the lab".
![]()
据《长江日报》微信公众号报道，1月23日，武汉病毒所石正丽团队在bioRxiv（生命科学类数据库）预印版平台上发表文章《一种新型冠状病毒的发现及其可能的蝙蝠起源》（“Discovery of a novel coronavirus associated with the recent pneumonia outbreak in humans and its potential bat origin”），提出新型肺炎病毒或来源于蝙蝠。
![]()
文章首次证实了该新型冠状病毒使用与SARS冠状病毒相同的细胞进入受体（ACE2），并发现新型冠状病毒与一种蝙蝠的冠状病毒序列一致性高达96%，为后续病毒致病机理、病毒溯源等研究提供了重要依据。
Shi was the leading scientist who made the discovery the novel coronavirus can enter cells through ACE2 receptors and may have originated from bats.
《长江日报》报道中表示，通过中科院武汉分院工作人员向她本人求证，此条朋友圈消息属实，并获准发布。
此前，有印度科学人员发布非同行审评论文，暗示科学家认为在新型冠状病毒中植入了HIV病毒基因，因此抗HIV治疗对新病毒有效。这篇论文备受国际学术专家的批评，上周日也被从bioRxiv平台撤下了。
Her comments came after Indian scientists recently published a non-peer reviewed paper suggesting scientists had artificially inserted genes from the HIV virus into the coronavirus, thus making it susceptible to anti-HIV treatments. The paper was immediately panned by experts around the world and retracted from biology journal server bioRxiv last Sunday.
![]()
然而，这篇论文却被持阴谋论媒体引用，作为中国改变病毒基因结构，以及病毒从实验室中泄露的证据。
However, the Indian article was widely cited by conspiracy media outlets as proof Chinese scientists had engineered the virus and it escaped from the institute's biosafety level-IV laboratory.
这样的阴谋论在一月末开始流传，英国《每日邮报》以及美国《华盛顿时报》相继发表文章声称，最近的疫情爆发是中国秘密研发生物武器的意外结果。
The conspiracy began in late January when British tabloid the Daily Mail and US conservative newspaper the Washington Times published articles claiming the recent outbreak could be the accidental result of secret biological weapons research in China.
![]()
![]()
![]()
尽管文章没有提供任何证据，但依然在社交媒体上广泛传播，也引发BBC和《外交政策》网站的辟谣。
Though the articles did not provide any evidence, the conspiracy quickly went viral on social media, prompting media outlets from the BBC to Foreign Policy to debunk the fringe theory.
![]()
BBC在报道中指出，很多社交媒体帐号都推送了《华盛顿时报》网站这两篇广泛分享的文章，其中都引用了一位以色列前情报人员的说法。
Many accounts pushing the theory cite two widely-shared Washington Times articles both of which quote a former Israeli military intelligence officer for the claim.
然而，这两篇报道没有提供这一说法的证据，此外，被引用的以色列消息源的原文为：目前为止，“没有证据和指标”显示有病毒泄漏。
However, no evidence is provided for the claim in the two articles, and the Israeli source is quoted as saying that "so far there isn't evidence or indication" to suggest there was a leak.
1月31日，《科学》也发布最新调查报道称，生物信息学家正努力用科学击败“阴谋论”。
作为石正丽的长期合作伙伴，美国非盈利组织环保生态健康联盟疾病生态学家Peter Daszak在接受《科学》采访时表示，每当新疾病、新病毒出现时，都会产生诸如实验室泄漏或者生物工程制造一类的“阴谋论”。“这令人羞耻！”
中科院武汉分院的工作人员介绍，“石老师和病毒所的同事们从疫情一开始就不眠不休地投入到研究中，和病毒赛跑，向他们致敬，同时也向所有恶意中伤科研人员的人说一声，管住嘴，管住腿。”
中国科学院武汉病毒研究所于1月29日发文《武汉病毒所全力开展新型冠状病毒肺炎科研攻关》，披露了当前情况。
![]()
文中表示，目前已筛选出了几种有潜在临床应用价值的药物, 筛选结果已向国家和湖北省新型冠状病毒感染的肺炎疫情防控指挥部科技攻关组报告，供综合研判后指导医疗救治。在动物模型方面，已基本完成小鼠和非人灵长类动物模型的建立，将为后续研究提供关键支撑。
综合来源：ChinaDaily微信公众号，长江日报微信公众号，中国科学院武汉病毒研究所官方网站，BBC
