Like Corona: New bat virus discovered

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Is the world expecting the next pandemic? A zoologist has presented the discovery of a previously unknown virus that has ‘almost’ as much potential to infect humans as COVID. The organization to which the scientist belongs has previously funded controversial experiments in Wuhan, which some fear may have triggered the pandemic.

Peter Daszak, head of the organization EcoHealth Alliance, presented his discovery of bats at a World Health Organization (WHO) event to prepare for future research on pandemic preparedness.

People frequently exposed
Daszak revealed that his team has already found a bat coronavirus of significant interest. “We have found many SARS-related coronaviruses, one of which has been detected particularly frequently in bats to which humans have been frequently exposed,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.

Bat droppings are used as fertilizer
The virus was found in a cave in Thailand frequented by farmers who use bat droppings as fertilizer for their fields.

Can bind well “to human tissue”
He also said that additional experiments showed that the new virus was able to bind to human tissue ‘almost as well’ as COVID.
‘So here we have a virus in bats that is currently in a cave that is heavily exposed to bat feces by humans,’ he said. ‘And this virus is shed in bat feces, so there is a real potential for transmission.