China has discovered a new bat coronavirus, which poses a risk of animal-to-human transmission, similar to what caused the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the new virus, called HKU5-COV-2, is a team of virologists led by Sichenli, a well-known scientist known as “Batwoman” for his lifelong work with the coronavirus. It was discovered. The Wuhan Institute was at the heart of the theory suggesting that Covid-19 came from a lab leak – something China repeatedly denies.
Chinese researchers have discovered that the new virus is similar to SARS COV-2 – a virus that led to the Covid pandemic – this is also called ACE2, just like Covid did The outlet reported because it could penetrate human cells.
What is HKU5-COV-2?
HKU5-COV-2 is a coronavirus belonging to the Merbecovirus subgenus and also includes the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Scientists have discovered that the new virus binds to human ACE2 and resembles SARS-COV-2 and NL63 (the common cold virus).
During lab testing, the team discovered that HKU5-COV-2 can infect human cell cultures into the mini-human organ model used by scientists.
“Bat Melbecoviruses phylogenetically associated with MERS-COV are at increased risk of spillover in humans by direct transmission or being promoted by intermediate hosts,” he said. According to Newsweek, the study said. However, he pointed out that the possibility of the virus spreading to humans has not been investigated yet.
“Structural and functional analyses show that HKU5-COV-2 has better adaptation to human ACE2 than lineage 1 HKU5-COV,” a Chinese research team wrote in the study.
“Authentic HKU5-COV-2-infected human ACE2-expressing cell lines and human respiratory and intestinal organoids. This study uses human ACE2 efficiently and highlights potential animal bone risks in bats. “We have revealed a clear lineage of
It remains unclear whether this finding causes human disease.
Can we face another pandemic?
When asked about the concerns raised by reports of another pandemic caused by the new virus, University of Minnesota infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm said he had “exaggerated the response to the study. “I called it. He said the population has more immunity to similar SARS viruses compared to 2019, which could reduce the risk of the pandemic.
In particular, the study itself states that the virus has significantly less binding affinity to human ACE2 than SARS-COV-2, and other suboptimal factors for human adaptation are “the risk of human population emergence.” It suggests that “we should not exaggerate.”
