6 New Coronaviruses Discovered in Bats
By Jeanna Bryner | Live Science Editor-in-ChiefLIVE SCIENCE – April 10, 2020 | Scientists have discovered six entirely new coronaviruses lurking in bats in Myanmar.
These viruses are in the same family as the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is currently spreading across the globe; but the researchers said the newbies aren’t closely related genetically to SARS-CoV-2 or to the two other coronaviruses that cause severe infections in humans — severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which caused the 2002-2003 pandemic, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
(Image: © Geza Farkas/Shutterstock)The researchers discovered the viruses while surveying bats in Myanmar as part of a government-funded program called PREDICT to identify infectious diseases that have the potential to hop from animals to humans. And bats are prime suspects, as the mammals are thought to host thousands of yet-to-be-discovered coronaviruses. SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19, is also thought to have originated in bats before taking up residence in humans, possibly taking a detour through some intermediary host first.
