Scientists detect new Covid-like virus from moustached bats in Brazil

An international team of scientists from Japan the US Australia and Belgium has detected a new Covid19like virus from a species of moustached bats in Brazil stoking fears of a potential spillover and a new diseaseBats are natural reservoirs for many viruses including betacoronaviruses which include the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus 2 SARSCoV2 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus MERSCoVThe team from the universities of Osaka and Sydney detected the virus called BRZ batCoV from the Pteronotus parnellii a small insecteating bat known for tiny hair tufts on its faceEven though the bat species is common in South America experts fear the virus might have been gaining ground for monthsldquoWe identified a fulllength genome of a novel bat CoV BRZ batCoV from a Pteronotus parnellii bat sampled in Brazil that is phylogenetically distinct from known betacoronavirusesrdquo said the researchers in a paper not yet peerreviewed and published on preprint site BioRxivThe team analysed the speciesrsquo evolutionary development and found that ldquothe virus is sufficiently distinct from the five recognised Betacoronavirus subgenera to represent a new subgenusrdquoldquoOf note the spike protein of this novel bat coronavirus possesses a functional furin cleavage site at the S1S2 junction with a unique amino acid sequence motif RDAR that differs from that found in SARSCoV2 RRAR by only one amino acidrdquo the team saidThe furin cleavage site is important in determining host range infectivity and crossspecies transmission It has been identified in the surface proteins of other RNA viruses such as the highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses Orthomyxoviridae and the Ebola viruses as well as the SARSCoV2 virus which led to the recent global pandemicIn addition the team found that BRZ batCoV is not the same as Covid rather it is more closely related to MERS virusesMERS also known as camel flu spreads less easily than Covid but is much deadlier killing about onethird of patientsAlthough the new flu strain shows ldquoalarming exposure ratesrdquo it may be spreading silently across countries Hongbo Bao a researcher from the Changchun Veterinary Research Institute in China was quoted as saying to the US Sun an American edition of the British tabloidHowever as per the scientists who found the new bat virus there is no evidence that BRZ batCoV infects humans or spreads beyond bat populationsThey note that the discovery ldquoprovides important insights into the evolutionary potential and zoonotic risk of BRZ batCoVrdquoThe findings ldquohighlight the role of bats as potential reservoirs of genetic innovations relevant to zoonotic emergencerdquo they addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever