CDC Speaks Out as New Coronavirus in China Sparks _欧博ABG官网-欧博官方网址-会员登入

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has addressed concerns about a new bat coronavirus that has the capacity to spread to humans, saying there is "no reason to believe it currently poses a concern to public health."

Why It Matters

HKU5-CoV-2, the coronavirus that was recently discovered by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Guangzhou Laboratory and the Guangzhou Academy of Sciences, has sparked concerns because it can spread to humans in a similar way to the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

What To Know

The CDC told Newsweek: "CDC is aware of a publication about a new bat coronavirus, but there is no reason to believe it currently poses a concern to public health." It also stressed that scientists have "not detected infections in humans."

HKU5-CoV-2 was found by a Chinese research team led by virus expert Shi Zhengli, known as "Batwoman" for her work on coronaviruses, especially at the Wuhan Institute, which has been at the center of the theory suggesting COVID-19 came from a lab leak—something Shi has denied.

Only a few of the hundreds of coronaviruses that exist can infect humans, including SARS, SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).

HKU5-CoV-2 uses the ACE2 receptor to infect organisms, the same receptor as SARS-CoV-2. It belongs to the merbecovirus group, which also includes the virus that causes MERS.

"Bat merbecoviruses, which are phylogenetically (referring to the evolution and diversification) related to MERS-CoV, pose a high risk of spillover to humans, either through direct transmission or facilitated by intermediate hosts," the study, published in the scientific journal Cell says.

But the potential for the virus to spillover into humans "remains to be investigated," researchers said, and the fact that HKU5-CoV-2 can infect human cells does not mean it can be transferred from person to person.

What Are People Saying

The CDC said: "The publication referenced demonstrates that the bat virus can use a human protein to enter cells in the laboratory, but they have not detected infections in humans. CDC will continue to monitor viral disease activity and provide important updates to the public."

Prof Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and virus expert at the University of Sydney, told The Telegraph: "(Identifying an) ACE2 receptor in a merbecovirus is the most concerning aspect (of this research).

"The (presence of the) ACE2 receptor moves HKU5-CoV-2 from being a curious bat virus, to one we have to watch very, very carefully, because it has got the properties that would enable it to emerge in humans."

What Happens Next

The CDC said it will continue to monitor any developments on this coronavirus.