A new type of corona virus, which most likely spread from dogs to humans, has been discovered in Malaysia, scientists claim.
A new scientific study, recently published in the journal “Clinical Infectious Diseases”, states that a new type of corona virus was discovered in a sample of a boy from Malaysia who had pneumonia in 2018. If this finding is confirmed, it would be the eighth corona virus that is transmitted to humans, and the first one that is transmitted from dogs , writes Live Science.
However, the study states that it has not yet been completely proven that the corona virus was the cause of pneumonia. Although the boy was positive for the corona virus, he also had rhinovirus, which causes the common cold in humans. Also, it is not yet certain whether the corona virus, which in some way passed from a dog to a boy, can be transmitted among humans.
However, scientists warn of the danger of animal corona viruses , which have also been shown in the current pandemic, since SARS-kov-2 is believed to be a virus of animal origin.
“Animal corona viruses appear to be more commonly transmitted to humans than we thought, as tests generally detect human corona viruses, ” said Dr. Gregory Gray of Duke University, the team leader who discovered the new case from Malaysia.
Scientists came to this discovery by searching for a diagnostic test that can detect several types of coronavirus. To examine it, they analyzed 301 samples from 2017 and 2018 that were taken from patients with pneumonia in the city of Sarawak in Malaysia.
They found that eight tests were positive for canine coronavirus, and that surprised them so much that they thought it was a mistake.
Therefore, they retested those eight samples, using another method – growing the virus in dog cells. In one of the eight samples, the virus began to multiply in dog cells, and scientists were able to isolate it and sequence its genome.
Thus, it was confirmed that it is a new canine corona virus called KKov-Hupn 2018. This virus also contains genetic material of feline and porcine corona virus, which is a phenomenon known as recombination and which is common in canine corona viruses, which means that it it can infect both cats and pigs.
Also, the new corona virus has mutations that have not been seen so far with any canine corona virus, but they are with the SARS Kov-2 and SARS Kov-1 viruses, and refer to a structural protein known as the N protein.
Source: sputniknews.com