Feb 23 2021 Read 648 Times
Structural similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and a pangolin coronavirus found by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, suggest that a pangolin coronavirus could affect humans although it doesn’t rule out that another species may be a carrier of a coronavirus that will jump to humans. While SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have evolved from a bat coronavirus, its exact evolutionary path is still unclear as there are likely many undiscovered bat coronaviruses. Also due to differences between bat coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2, it is thought that the virus may have passed to humans via at least one other species.
Tracing The Origin of Coronavirus In Bats And Pangolins by Pooja Shete on February 15, 2021 at 12:14 PM
Scientists have said that across many parts of Asia, coronaviruses related to SARS-CoV-2 may be circulating in bats. At a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand, a virus that is a close match to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, has been discovered in bats.
The scientists have predicted that related coronaviruses may be present in bats across many Asian nations and regions. This discovery extends the area in which related viruses have been found to a distance of 4,800km.
The study led by Lin-Fa Wang of the University of Singapore is published in the journal
Updated Feb 10, 2021 | 11:13 IST
Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute have found important structural similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and a pangolin coronavirus, implying that the pangolin coronavirus could also infect humans. Researchers find similarities between coronaviruses, say virus found in pangolins could jump to humans | Photo Credit: iStock Images
New Delhi: As if the coronavirus mutations happening around the wrld were not worrisome enough, that researchers have now found similarities between coronavirus found in pangolins, and the ones (SARS-CoV-2) found in humans. Researchers have now also revealed that the coronavirus found in these animals could jump to humans, and cause infection.
Could it be that a strange-looking creature known as a pangolin was the conduit by which the new coronavirus jumped to humans and prompted an international pandemic?