Scientists have discovered a new coronavirus in bats that may pose a new challenge to the human population. The new virus, called “Khosta-2,” originated in Russian bats and can infect human cells.
Khosta-2’s name is sarbecovirus, the same subcategory of coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2, and exhibits “concerning traits. “
Scientists believe the new virus is capable of evading the immune coverage of Covid-19 vaccines.
According to a report in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists led by Michael Letko have discovered an organization of coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-2, which was first discovered in bats in Russia in 2020. Another virus discovered in Russian bats, Khosta-1, can’t introduce human cells without problems, but Khosta-2 could, scientists say.
Khosta-2 binds to the same protein, ACE2, as the coronavirus to enter human cells.
Furthermore, when scientists combined serum from other people vaccinated against Covid-19 with Khosta-2, the antibodies in the serum did not neutralize the virus.
The same thing happened when they combined Khosta-2 with the serum of other people who had recovered from Omicron infection.
However, Letko told TIME. com: “We should not panic and say that this is an absolutely vaccine-resistant virus. But it is worrying to note that there are viruses that circulate in nature and that have these properties: they can bind to human receptors. and they are not as neutralized by responses to existing vaccines. “
Everything you want to know about the Khosta-2 virus:
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