The new strain of SARS is related to bats

Bats may be the source of a new SARS-like virus, which killed a person in Saudi Arabia, according to AFP news agency, a new study published on November 20.

Two people were infected with the virus and one person, who was taken to England for treatment in September, is still under special care, the BBC reported.

Scientists at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam (Netherlands) said the virus is closely related to other viruses in bats. This virus is not easily transmitted from person to person.

Japanese bat Pipistrellus abramus

Experts discovered the virus after a 60-year-old man died in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in June, raising concerns that acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) is returning. a new form.

The new virus, called HCoV-EMC / 2012, belongs to a strain of virus called coronavirus but in a special form called betacoronavirus, according to Dutch scientists.

The closest known relative of this strain is the strain of a virus in a species of bat (called Tylonycteris pachypus) and another strain of the Japanese bat (Pipistrellus abramus).

'The virus is closely related to the virus found in bats in Asia and there are currently no human viruses associated with it. Therefore, we think it comes from animals , 'said Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, adding that Pipistrellus bats are present in Saudi Arabia and some neighboring countries. .

SARS outbreak in China in 2002, is believed to have claimed the lives of about 800 people in 30 countries.