Scientists in Wuhan, China, have recently expressed concern about another type of coronavirus disease, NeoCoV, which may be more contagious and potentially deadlier than all previous strains.
What is NeoCoV – New COVID Version?
In the paper, published on the BioRxiv website and yet to be peer-reviewed, the scientist further clarified, NeoCoV is related to Middle East respiratory syndrome or MERS-coronavirus.
The NeoCov virus has been discovered in a bat population in South Africa and is currently spreading only among animals, the scientists said and further cautioned that it has now been found that NeoCoV and PDF-2180-CoV are some types of angiotensin- convert enzymes, including ACE2 and human ACE2 BAT, for entry.
“Just one mutation is enough for the virus to be able to infiltrate human cells.”
The MERS-CoV virus is similar to SARS-CoV-2 in terms of symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath and was prevalent in Middle-Eastern countries in 2012 and 2015. Many people died due to the infection.
How deadly can a virus be?
The research states that MERS-CoV belongs to lineage C of beta-CoV (merbecovirus), which poses a major threat given the high case-mortality rate of around 35%.
“Our study demonstrates the first case of the use of ACE2 in a MERS-related virus, with both a high mortality and transmission rate, using “MERS-CoV-2″ as a potential biosecurity threat to the human emergence of ACE2. sheds light on it.” The scientists wrote in the study.
According to Chinese researchers, NeoCoV carries a possible combination of MERS-high CoV mortality (one in every three infected person dies) and the current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus’s high transmission rate.
Can COVID Vaccines Protect Us?
Pre-COVID infection or vaccination may not be enough to protect us from NeoCovid.
“The immunity generated by prior infection or vaccination with other coronaviruses may be insufficient to protect humans from NeoCoV and PDF-2180-CoV infection because neither the SARS-CoV-2 anti-sera nor the ten tested MERS-CoV Nanobodies can cross-inhibit. Infections caused by these two viruses,” the researchers said.
Earlier this week, World Health Organization officials said that “the next COVID-19 variant will certainly be more contagious than Omicron, but the real question is whether it will be more lethal.”
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