Deadly coronavirus may have originated in bats: researchers

Scientists have been batting around theories about what animals may have sparked the deadly new coronavirus, including snakes — but a new study suggests that bats were the most likely hosts, according to a report.

Researchers analyzed 10 genome sequences of the deadly virus — dubbed 2019-nCoV — obtained from nine patients in China and found that they shared more than 99.98 percent of the same genetic sequence, according to a new study in the journal The Lancet.

The finding suggests the virus made its “jump” to humans very recently, because if it had happened a long time ago, the virus sequences would have been more different, according to Live Science.

“It is striking that the sequences of 2019-nCoV described here from different patients were almost identical,” said study co-author Weifeng Shi, a professor of epidemiology affiliated with Shandong First Medical University.

“This finding suggests that 2019-nCoV originated from one source within a very short period and was detected relatively rapidly,” he added.

Despite emerging in humans just recently, the virus has already infected about 9,700 people and caused 213 deaths in China, while spreading to 15 other countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Most of the early cases occurred in people who worked at or visited a seafood market in Wuhan, where a variety of wild animals were sold.

The scientists compared the new virus’ genetic sequence with those in a library of viral sequences, and discovered that the most closely related viruses were two coronaviruses that originated in bats, according to the study.

However, no bats were sold at the Wuhan market, suggesting that another yet-unidentified animal acted as an intermediary to transmit the disease to humans, Live Science reported.

“It seems likely that another animal host is acting as an intermediate host between bats and humans,” according to study co-author Guizhen Wu of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

A prior study suggested snakes — which were sold at the seafood market — as a possible source of 2019-nCoV, but some experts have criticized the study, saying it was not clear if coronaviruses can infect snakes.

Another expert also pointed a finger at the flying rodents as the most likely biological super villains.

“When you look at the genetic sequence of the virus, and you match it up with every known coronavirus, the closest relatives are from bats,” Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, an environmental health nonprofit, told CNN.

Bats also are believed to be the natural host of the Ebola virus, rabies, SARS and MERS, with the latter two both coronaviruses similar to the new coronavirus.

In the case of SARS in 2003, the intermediary was the civet cat, while MERS was carried by camels.

The fact that the new virus has been linked to bats “comes as no surprise to virologists working on bat-borne viruses,” Dr. Stathis Giotis, a virologist at the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College in London, told CNN.

“Bats are recognized as important reservoirs for emerging and re-emerging viruses with zoonotic potential,” Giotis said, adding that it was possible that the Chinese horseshoe bat was responsible.

Last year, scientists from the Wuhan Institute of Virology made the eerily prophetic observation that “it is generally believed that bat-borne CoVs (coronaviruses) will re-emerge to cause the next disease outbreak,” according to CNN.

“In this regard, China is a likely hotspot. The challenge is to predict when and where, so that we can try our best to prevent such outbreaks,” they said.