Sept. 23 (UPI) — A coronavirus recently discovered in Russian bats can infect humans and possibly be resistant to vaccines, prompting researchers to call for stings to protect themselves from all similar viruses.
Khosta-2 has already shown that it can infect human cells and is resistant to COVID-19 vaccines, the journal PLoS Pathogens reported Thursday. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, emerged in Wuhan. , China, around January 2020.
“But when we looked at them further, we were surprised to find that they can only infect human cells. It adjusts our understanding of those viruses a little bit, where they come from and what spaces are cause for concern. “
He added that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has the ability to “go back” from humans to wildlife where viruses like Khosta-2 “wait on those animals with those homes that we don’t need them to have. “
“Right now, there are teams looking to find a vaccine that not only protects against the next variant of SARS-2, but protects us against sarbecoviruses in general,” Letko said.