Scientists at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology have identified a new coronavirus in bats, HKU5-CoV-2, which uses the same entry pathway as the Covid-19 virus. But the virus was not found in humans and only in the laboratory. Stock prices of certain vaccine firms spiked after the announcement.
HKU5-CoV-2 is not as easily infective to human cells as SARS-CoV-2, according to a study in the journal Cell and reported by Reuters. The scientists cautioned that “the risk of emergence in human populations should not be exaggerated.”
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HKU5-CoV-2 has features of both Covid-19 and the MERS virus, as they all belong to the HKU5 coronavirus family. Similar to SARS-CoV-2, HKU5-CoV-2 has a furin cleavage site that facilitates cell entry via the ACE2 receptor on human cell surfaces. In experiments, the virus was able to infect human cells with high levels of ACE2 and human intestine and airway models.
Although the virus was discovered in bats, it is not clear if it can transmit from animal to human. Not all coronaviruses infect humans because the family comprises viruses that cause common colds and other more deadly diseases such as SARS and Covid-19.
University of Minnesota infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm said the response to the finding of HKU5-CoV-2 was overdone.
Symptoms of HKU5 virus are identical to those for MERS and include fever, cough, weakness, congestion, sneezing, chills, loss of appetite, breathlessness, diarrhea, and vomiting.
In order to lower the risk, the Centre for Disease Control recommends keeping up with vaccinations, employing preventive methods such as handwashing, mask use, and testing for other comorbidities.
