The coronavirus outbreak in China is believed to be caused by snakes.
Emerging viral infections - from avian influenza to Ebola and Zika infections - are major threats to global public health, and understanding their origins can help researchers design more effective strategies against future epidemics.
China's outbreak is believed to be snake-borne
A new study provides important information on the potential origins of the latest outbreak of viral pneumonia in China, which began in mid-December and is now spreading to Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. The results are published online in the Journal of Medical Virology.
The study notes that patients who were infected with the virus - a type of virus called coronavirus and named 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization - were exposed to wild animals in a market where seafood, poultry, snakes, bats and farm animals were sold.
By conducting a detailed genetic analysis of the virus and comparing it with available genetic information on different viruses from various geographical locations and species, investigators concluded that 2019-nCoV appears to be a virus that formed from a combination of a coronavirus found in bats and another coronavirus of unknown origin.
A "recombination" that allowed for interspecies transmission.
The resulting virus has developed a mixture or "recombination" of a viral protein that recognizes and binds to host cell receptors. This recognition is essential to allow viruses to enter host cells, which can lead to infection and disease. Finally, the team found evidence that 2019-nCoV probably resided in snakes before being transmitted to humans. Recombination within the viral receptor binding protein may have enabled cross-species transmission from snake to human.
"The results of our evolutionary analysis suggest for the first time that the snake is the most likely reservoir of wild animals for 2019-nCoV," the authors wrote. "The new information obtained from our evolutionary analysis is very important for the effective control of the 2019-nCoV pneumonia outbreak.
Antiviral drugs should be tested against 2019-nCOV
The accompanying editorial notes that although the control of emerging viral infections requires the discovery and development of effective vaccines and/or antiviral drugs, currently licensed antiviral drugs should be tested against 2019-nCoV.
