Covid will be: a dangerous new virus has been found in bats in China

A Chinese team of scientists has discovered a new bat coronavirus that can be transmitted from animal to human. This is reported by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. While the spread of the virus HKU5-CoV-2 nothing is known. Details - in the material "Izvestia".

New coronavirus in bats in China: what is known

In Chinese Hong Kong in bats in China found a new coronavirus species HKU5-CoV-2, which has similarities with COVID-19. As reported by Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP), there is a possibility that this virus can be transmitted from animal to human because it uses the same human protein as the virus that causes COVID-19, which is angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2). It is about both direct transmission and through multiple living beings.

At the same time, nothing is yet known about the spread of the virus, but experts see no reason to panic: in their opinion, fears about the appearance of HKU5-CoV-2 in the human population are exaggerated.

As the newspaper explains with reference to experts, the new virus has been detected in the Japanese nuthatch in Hong Kong, it comes from the subgenus of merbekoviruses, which can also cause Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERC).

The study was led by leading virologist Shi Zhengli, nicknamed "bat woman" in Chinese medical circles because of her extensive research on coronaviruses in these animals. She was assisted in her work by experts from the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, as well as medics from Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

They posted the results of their study Tuesday in the scientific journal Cell. The researchers found that when the virus was isolated from bat samples, it could infect human cells as well as artificially grown masses of cells or tissues that resembled miniature respiratory or intestinal organs.

Although HKU5-CoV-2 has a stronger ability to bind to a wider range of hosts than its original strain, the researchers emphasized that it is much less effective than SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, and the risk of widespread human transmission is low.

Just how dangerous a new type of coronavirus is to humans

As Anatoly Altshtein, chief researcher at the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, further explained to the Parliamentary Gazette, it is unlikely that the new coronavirus will trigger another global pandemic.

However, it should be thoroughly studied, because scientists have long looked at coronaviruses with special anxiety and expect the next global pandemic to come from them. According to him, there are many subspecies of coronaviruses, including undiscovered ones. And bats are their main natural reservoir and carrier.

The scientist emphasized that although there are many viruses in the world that are dangerous to humans, there are very few that can travel long distances. According to him, many coronaviruses can be transmitted from animal to human. Some of them have been circulating among humans for a long time, but they are not dangerous.

So far, bird flu is considered the most dangerous for humans because of its high lethality, the scientist explained. Fortunately, so far bird flu is weakly transmitted from animal to human.

Recall, in early January, Chinese doctors recorded a seasonal increase in acute respiratory diseases, the main causative agent of which was human metapneumovirus (HMPV). This is one of the classic viruses that has been actively circulating around the globe, including Russia, for decades. As the director of the Gamaleya Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology explained to Izvestia. Alexander Gintsburg, Director of the Gamaleya Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, explained to Izvestia that in order to fight metapneumovirus and other dangerous pathogens in Russia, it is necessary to create a bank of prototype vaccines against infections that can cause pandemic complications.