Bats, the suspected species origin of COVID-19, are still capable of being infected by new strains of the virus, according to study of cross-species infectivity.
RIT scientists studied how the viral spike proteins in several SARS-CoV-2 variants interact with the host cell receptors known as ACE2 in both humans and various bats of genus Rhinolophus, pictured here. The study indicates COVID-19 is still highly transmissible between mammals.
“We were hoping to see really cool adaptive evolution happening as the virus got more used to humans and less used to bats, but we actually saw that there wasn’t a whole lot of change,” Gregory Babbitt, an associate professor with the Rochester Institute of Technology and one of the authors of the study,“Because this binding site has not evolved very much, there’s really not much stopping it from transmitting from humans to bats.
In order to see if any of these newer variants were no longer able to infect bats, researchers ran all current variants of concern against computer modelling of the binding receptors in these bats. These included the original strain of COVID-19, Alpha, Beta and Delta, as well as Omicron variants BA.1, BA.2 and BA.4/BA.5, among others.
Researchers found that all of the VOC were better at binding to a specific type of ACE2 receptor called hACE2, compared to bACE2, while the original strain of the virus saw no difference between which of these receptors it was capable of targeting. Although the vast majority of the transmission of COVID-19 has been human-to-human transmission, we’ve seen other animals catch the virus from humans as well during the course of the pandemic, including gorillas, tigers, minks and housecats.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
China’s COVID trapLONDON, U.K.—“Our COVID-19 policy is the most scientifically effective, the most economical, and yields the best result,” insisted the People’s Daily newspaper in China after mass public protests against the government’s zero-COVID policy last weekend. If President Xi Jinping believes that, he is in for a lot more trouble. The protests were unprecedented in their scale and daring. They broke out spontaneously in 12 cities across China after 10 lockdown-related deaths in the remote province of Xinjiang. All sorts of people took part, from students to workers to pensioners. A few even called for the dethroning of Xi and the Communist Party. That doesn’t mean the regime is on the brink of collapse. Public anger at the endless lockdowns and the resulting loss of income is strong, but the regime’s surveillance technology is excellent. There was relatively little official violence last weekend, but many of the protesters will have an unpleasant visit by the police in the coming days. Xi’s problem is that the protests will probably recur and may well escalate because over-long mass quarantines and lockdowns are a non-political issue that can unite almost everybody against the government’s policy. Or rather, against Xi’s personal policy, for he has deliberately chosen to portray zero-COVID as the greatest achievement of his time in office. That made sense in the first year of the pandemic, for China’s relentless lockdowns and mass testing campaigns saved a great many lives. Total COVID-related deaths in China have been around 5,000 out of a population of 1.4 billion. The United States, with less than a quarter of China’s population, had more than one million COVID deaths. Xi and his propagandists naturally used this contrast as evidence that both Chinese medicine and the Chinese political system were superior to their Western equivalents. Was he even aware that the zero-COVID policy could only be a stopgap until effective vaccines were developed, never a lasting solution? H
Read more »
Most B.C. residents under 60 have been infected with COVID-19 or vaccinated: study - Terrace StandardProportion of those with COVID-19 antibodies rose to 95 per cent this summer from 5 at start of 2021
Read more »
Chinese immigration to Canada record high from 2015, as some flee zero-COVID strategy | National NewswatchNational Newswatch: Canada's most comprehensive site for political news and views. Make it a daily habit.
Read more »
Chinese immigration to Canada hits new peak as some flee zero-COVID restrictions - National | Globalnews.caImmigration from China has bounced back from pandemic lulls to hit a new peak, according to Canadian government statistics.
Read more »
Chinese immigration to Canada record high from 2015, as some flee zero-COVID strategyChina's zero-COVID lockdowns have been linked to a rare wave of protests across the country in recent weeks, and immigration industry experts say the strict pandemic rules are also fuelling a surge in requests to live in Canada.
Read more »
Here’s the likely fallout of Twitter’s move to ditch its COVID misinformation policyExperts in misinformation and science communication fear Twitter’s decision to no longer enforce its COVID-19 misleading-information policy will further silo users and create an environment rife with the content the policy aimed to curtail.
Read more »