New COVID-like virus found in bats can pose threat to humans: Study

A new SARS-CoV-2-like virus discovered in Russian bats is capable of infecting humans and is resistant to current vaccines against COVID-19, claimed a new study. 

A team led by researchers at Washington State University (WSU), US, found spike proteins from the bat virus, named Khosta-2, can infect human cells and is resistant to both the antibody therapies and blood serum from people vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2.

A virus uses the spike protein to enter and infect human cells. Both Khosta-2 and SARS- CoV-2 belong to the same sub-category of coronaviruses known as sarbecoviruses. 

"Our research further demonstrates that sarbecoviruses circulating in wildlife outside of Asia, even in places like western Russia where the Khosta-2 virus was found, also pose a threat to global health and ongoing vaccine campaigns against SARS-CoV-2," said Michael Letko, corresponding author of the study.

The Khosta-1 and Khosta-2 viruses were discovered in Russian bats in late 2020, and it initially appeared they were not a threat to humans, the researchers said.

The researchers determined that Khosta-1 posed a low risk to humans, but Khosta-2 demonstrated some troubling traits. They found that like SARS-CoV-2, Khosta-2 can use its spike protein to infect cells by attaching to a receptor protein, called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), found throughout human cells.

The team then set out to determine if current vaccines protect against the new virus. Using blood serum derived from people vaccinated for COVID-19, the researchers found that Khosta-2 was not neutralized by current vaccines.

They also tested serum from people who were infected with the Omicron variant, but the antibodies, too, were ineffective. Letko said the new virus is lacking some of the genes believed to be involved in pathogenesis in humans.