The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Communications; they were reported by the Daily Mail.

According to the researchers, this pathogen belongs to the same family as the deadly MERS-CoV virus (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), the causative agent of the Middle East respiratory syndrome. It is a zoonotic pathogen transmitted from double-humped camels to humans and causes severe respiratory diseases that kill up to a third of those infected.

HKU5 was first discovered in bats by researchers from a Chinese laboratory, from where it is feared that SARS-CoV-2, which caused the pandemic in 2020, leaked. Michael Letko, a professor of virology at Washington State University and one of the authors of the study, said that HKU5 viruses had hardly been studied before. In the laboratory, they have already shown the ability to infect bat cells. According to Letko, if you make one change to the structure of the virus protein, it will be able to bind to human ACE2 receptors, which are located in the nose, throat and mouth.

In its current form, the virus only infects bats, but experts fear that the uncontrolled wildlife trade in China increases the risk of spreading the disease. HKU5-CoV-2 strains have already been detected in samples collected in the southern and eastern provinces of China. rbc.ru.