Detects 7 new strains of corona virus in African bats

A team of experts at the Franceville International Medical Research Center (CIRMF) examined more than 1,000 bats living in five caves across Gabon from 2009 to 2015. They found 18 of them carrying corona virus, using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. They all belong to the three species of Hipposideros gigas (4/156 samples), Hipposideros cf. ruber (13/262 samples) and Miniopterus inflatus (1/249 samples).

The team examined samples taken from more than 1,000 bats in Gabon. (Photo: SWNS).

The sequencing results found seven previously unknown corona virus strains, and five of them were related to previously found strains, including circulating corona virus 229E in humans from the 1960s and often. cause mild cold symptoms. This led the team to suspect that new coronavirus viruses could infect humans and cause another pandemic, but they needed to conduct further analysis to find more evidence.

CIRMF research shows the genetic diversity of corona virus in insect-eating bats in northeastern Gabon. According to the research team, bats contain high levels of corona virus capable of transmitting from animals to humans and posing a public health risk in places where people are regularly exposed to the animals. Understanding the ecology of bat corona virus is essential to prevent the occurrence of disease in the population.

So far, researchers still do not know the exact origin of nCoV. The nCoV genome resembles more than 96% of the corona virus genome found in horseshoe bats at a cave in Yunnan Province, more than 1,600 km from Wuhan.