Study finds coronavirus pathogen circulated in bats for decades

Researchers have found that coronavirus in bats had circulated for decades, without people realizing it. A new study published by Nature Microbiology states that scientists do not know the exact origin of SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, but horseshoe bats are most plausible hosts.

The origin of the virus has been centre of debate since the pandemic began with many scientists attributing it to bats and pangolins. Last month, the world health organisation (WHO) sent a team of experts to the Chinese mainland to investigate the origin after US officials stoked speculations that it escaped from a Chinese lab. Tracing the virus lineage is crucial early in the outbreak because it would allow authorities to separate people from the animal hosting the pathogen.

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Potential to spread in humans

In the study, the researchers from Pennsylvania State University Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics warned that the virus lineage in bats could have the potential to spread in humans.  However, they found that pangolins probably did not act as a host but might have played a role in touching off pandemic by transmitting it. The research team reconstructed the virus’s evolution by tracing its recombination history.

“The findings highlight how difficult it will be to identify viruses with the potential to cause major human outbreaks before they emerge. This underscores the need for a global network of real-time human disease surveillance systems," they wrote in the paper.

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