NeoCov is not a new type of human transmissible coronavirus
NeoCov is not a new type of human transmissible coronavirus
(Reuters) - Claims shared on social media that a highly infectious and deadly new type of coronavirus called NeoCov has been discovered by Chinese scientists are missing context. The virus has only been detected in bats, and a recent paper suggests monitoring NeoCov in case a mutation would mean it can pass on to humans.
NeoCoV, a coronavirus that infects a specific species of bats and is considered the closest relative to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) (here), has been studied by scientists for over a decade (here). So far there’s no evidence that NeoCov has jumped from bats to humans.
One Twitter user wrote (here), “1 in 3 Die; Scientists from China’s Wuhan have warned of a new type of coronavirus #NeoCov in South Africa with high death and transmission rate.”
Since 2014, scientists from the University of Bonn Medical Centre in Germany, the
Durban Natural Science Museum, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of KwaZulu Natal in South Africa determined the full genomic sequence of NeoCov, a coronavirus found in fecal material obtained from a South African Neoromicia capensis bat (here).
The scientists found that 85% of NeoCov’s genome was identical at the nucleotide level to MERS-CoV, a virus transmitted to humans from dromedary camels which is known to have caused 858 deaths in 27 countries since 2012, a death rate of 35% according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (here).
CAN NEOCOV INFECT HUMANS?
The paper that has been taken out of context (here) was posted ahead of peer review on Jan. 25, 2022, on the biology pre-print server bioRxiv by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science and Wuhan University.
According to the study, to enter human cells, MERS-CoV uses a receptor called Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4). Despite the close similarity between MERS-CoV and NeoCov, the receptor used by the latter to enter bat cells had remained an enigma so far.
The Chinese researchers found that NeoCov enters bats’ cells through their ACE2 receptor. Humans also have an ACE2 receptor (hACE2) that interacts with viruses like SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease), but the study found NeoCov cannot interact with such a human hACE2 receptor.
Although this coronavirus cannot infect humans so far, the researchers warned that “the spillover events of this group of viruses should be closely monitored” in case of a mutation that allows NeoCov to interact with the human hACE2 receptor.
VERDICT
NeoCov is not a highly transmissible new coronavirus that can kill 1 in 3 humans. A paper by Chinese researchers describes the way NeoCov infects a species of bats in South Africa and the need to observe any potential spillover to humans.
