Mystery new Covid-19 pressure present in bats as specialists warn ‘it might probably infect people’

Researchers from the Wuhan institute of Virology have found a new Coronavirus strain that is capable of spreading to humans – experts warn more research needs to be done to assess its risks

Experts have detected a new Coronavirus strain in bats that has the ability to infect humans like Covid-19.

The concerning discovery was found in a study was published in the Cell journal by a team at the Wuhan institute of Virology. The study was lead by leading Chinese virologist known as the “Batwoman” due to her extensive research on bat coronaviruses. The release of this paper comes more than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 surfaced in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

Experts involved in the study collected and analysed anal swab samples from Japanese house bats. The samples revealed a new lineage of HKU5-CoV which has the same potential to bind with the human variant of the enzyme ACE2.

This feature likens the virus to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 which also posses the ability to attach themselves to human enzyme ACE2 receptors and spread among people.

According to the study the HKU5-CoV virus also had the ability to attach to other ACE2 receptors in other mammalian species – this increases the possible threat of cross-species transmission.

Researchers in the study noted: “These results indicate that the HKU5-CoV-2 may have a broader host range and a higher potential for interspecies infection [than the original HKU5-CoV strain].”

Currently there are no confirmed cases of HKU5-CoV-2 in humans yet – because of this the symptoms are unknown. Due to the HKU5-CoV-2’s ability to the human enzyme ACE2 people could become infected if they come in contact with infected bats or the fluids of infected animals like (saliva, urine or faeces).

As a result of the lack of information we have on how the virus effects humans, researchers said “Due to these suboptimal factors for human adaptation, the risk of [HKU5-CoV-2] emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated.”

Since the virus is in the same subgenus as MERS and COVID-19 it might cause similar respiratory symptoms such as: fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, sore throat and itchiness.

Thankfully the researchers found HKU5-CoV-2 had a lower binding affinity with human ACE2 than SARS-CoV-2. However, experts highlight that more research needs to be done to determine the virus’ ability to pose a serious health threat.