It appeared in Russia! A new pandemic may be triggered after the coronavirus. How to find? What is the source? Details of the Khosta-2 virus…
Scientists said that an urgent vaccine should be developed against a new coronavirus found in bats in the Russian region, otherwise a deadly animal virus transmitted to humans could trigger another pandemic.
According to the news that ScienceAlert bases on the research in the journal PLOS Pathogens, the new virus, called Khosta-2, was detected in the horseshoe bats in Russia’s Sochi National Park.
It has been announced that this bat species also lives in Europe and North Africa.
When researchers in Russia first stumbled upon Khosta-2, along with another bat virus, Khosta-1, in 2020, neither pathogen seemed particularly dangerous.
Neither was closely related to SARS-CoV-2. In fact, it was determined to come from a different lineage that lacked certain genes that researchers thought were essential to antagonize the human immune system.
But upon closer inspection, experts identified some worrying features in Khosta-2.
Similar to SARS-CoV-2, the new respiratory virus discovered among bats, known as Khosta-2, is covered with pointed proteins that can infect human cells using the same entry routes.
It was determined that the receptor binding sites in these proteins also showed complete resistance against the monoclonal antibodies triggered by the COVID-19 vaccine.
In other words, this new respiratory virus cannot be neutralized with existing drugs.
