Khosta-2: New bat virus detected in Russia, may infect humans; all about it

As the menace of the Covid-19 pandemic is slowing down across the world, a new disease has been detected in Russia from the same family of viruses, which is likely to infect humans. According to reports, the Khosta-2 virus may soon infect people all across the world.

The recently discovered Khosta-2 virus apparently originated in Russian bats and is a member of the same coronavirus subgroup as SARS-CoV-2. The virus may infect people as well and manage to get beyond the COVID-19 vaccine's immunological protections.

According to the reports, the Khosta-2 virus is already capable of infecting humans and invading their cells, according to news sources. This poses a new threat to the public's health.

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All we know aboutt Khosta-2

Khosta-2 and SARS-CoV-2 are members of the sarbecovirus subgroup of coronaviruses. According to reports in TIME magazine, a related virus also found in the Russian bats, Khosta-1, could not enter human cells readily, but Khosta-2 could. The SARS-CoV-2 protein, ACE2, is the same protein that Khosta-2 binds to in order to enter human cells.

The new virus easily affects human cells. According to Michael Letko, one of the study's authors, said people vaccinated against COVID-19 cannot neutralize the virus, and neither can people who have recovered from Omicron infections.

How does it spread?

As of now, not much is known about the symptoms of the Khosta-2 virus but it is expected that the initial warning signs can be similar to that of Covid-19. Further, the fatality rate of the virus is also not known yet.

Khosta-2 has been circulating in wildlife such as bats, pangolins, raccoon dogs and palm civets. It is impossible to determine at this point if Khosta-2 has the capacity to start an epidemic or perhaps a pandemic, Letko said Newsweek. Scientists caution that there may be a greater risk of infection if Khosta-2 and SARS-CoV-2 mix.

The scientist said, "Right now, there are groups trying to come up with a vaccine that doesn't just protect against the next variant of SARS-2 (SARS-CoV-2) but actually protects us against the sarbecoviruses in general."

The author of the study further said, “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."

The virus lacks some of the genes believed to be involved in pathogenesis — that is, developing into a disease — in humans.

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