New virus in China ‘one step away’ from triggering next global pandemic
The pathogen is closely related to MERS, a lethal virus that kills up to a third of those infected.
A Covid swab test is carried out by a medical staff member (Image: Getty)
Professor Michael Letko, a virologist co-lead on the study, said: “HKU5 viruses in particular really hadn’t been looked at much, but our study shows how these viruses infect cells.
“What we also found is HKU5 viruses may be only a small step away from being able to spill over into humans.”
The experiments revealed that a small change in the virus’s spike protein could enable it to bind to human ACE2 cells, which are found in people’s throats, mouths and noses.
The HKU5-CoV-2 strain was collected from a small subset of hundreds of bats swabbed across southern and eastern regions of China.
At the moment, the virus spreads only among bats, but experts fear that unregulated wildlife trade in China raises the risk the it could mutate into a form that can then spread easily among humans.
Professor Letko added that the similarity between MERS and HKU5-CoV-2 was cause for some concern.
“While there’s no evidence they’ve crossed into people yet, the potential is there and that makes them worth watching,” he said.
MERS made its appearance in 2012 and has affected several countries, primarily in the Middle East.
