A group of researchers from the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Health Program has discovered the existence of six new coronaviruses in bats. These coronaviruses are not related to SARS-CoV-2 , which is what causes COVID-19. Nor with others such as SARS CoV-1 and MERS-CoV.
The study, which has been published in PLOS ONE , is the result of a bio-surveillance work carried out in Myanmar that is part of the Predict project. This initiative, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, in its acronym in English), aims to understand and monitor which pathogens can pass from animals to humans.
The scientists focused their work on those places in Myanmar where humans are most likely to be in contact with local wildlife. From May 2016 to August 2018, they collected more than 750 samples of saliva and feces from bats in the area. What they found were six unknown coronaviruses and one that, although it had been found in Southeast Asia, had not occurred in Myanmar. Experts believe that thousands of coronaviruses can occur in bats but that many of them have not been discovered.
“Viral pandemics remind us of how closely human health is connected to the health of wildlife and the environment, ” said Marc Valitutto, a former wildlife veterinarian with the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Health Program and lead author of the study. “Around the world, humans are interacting with wildlife with increasing frequency, so the more we understand about these viruses in animals, what allows them to mutate, and how they spread to other species, the better we can reduce their pandemic potential. “
The authors of the present study say that these findings underscore the importance of surveillance for zoonotic diseases (they can be transmitted between animals and humans) as they occur in wildlife. The results will serve as a guide for future surveillance of bat populations to better detect potential viral threats to public health.
Although now it is on everyone’s lips, coronaviruses are not something new and have already caused serious diseases in humans before. MERS-Cov is a coronavirus that causes what is known as Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), first detected in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. SARS CoV-1, for its part, is a coronavirus that causes a serious respiratory disease (SARS) and that in 2003 led to a global outbreak . Asia reported on it in February 2003. Within a few months, the disease had already landed in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. The WHO estimated at 8,098 the number of patients and the death of 774 people worldwide from SARS that year. Coronaviruses are also the cause of the common cold.
“Many coronaviruses may not pose a risk to people, but when we identify these diseases early in animals, at the source, we have a valuable opportunity to investigate the potential threat ,” said Suzan Murray, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Health Program. and co-author of the study. “Surveillance, research and education are the best tools we have to prevent pandemics before they happen.”
Referencias: Marc T. Valitutto et al. Detection of novel coronaviruses in bats in Myanmar, PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230802
