A new study has found that bats in Brazil are carrying a variety of Covid, including a strain similar to the one that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a deadly virus that has a 35 per cent fatality rate.
Scientists are concerned about the potential for this new strain to infect humans in the future.
The discovery was made by researchers from Brazil and China, who tested 16 bat species in Brazil. They collected over 400 samples from the bats and found seven different coronaviruses, with two bat species, Molossus molossus (insect-eating bats) and Artibeus lituratus (fruit bats), being the main carriers.
One of these coronaviruses is closely related to MERS-CoV, the virus responsible for MERS, which has caused 858 deaths since it was first identified in 2012.
This new finding is concerning because the MERS virus is highly lethal, with a case fatality rate much higher than that of the COVID-19 virus, which has a fatality rate of around 2 per cent. The researchers also note that until now, MERS-related viruses have only been found in bats in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, so this discovery expands the known range of these viruses.
Scientists are taking this potential threat seriously and will soon conduct further tests to determine if the virus could pose a risk to humans.
