Chinese scientists discover eight new viruses on a remote tropical island

Chinese scientists have discovered a series of brand new viruses on a tropical island and warned they could infect humans.

A research team tasked with preparing the world for future pandemics has collected nearly 700 samples from rodents living on Hainan, a small island off the coast of southern China.

The team discovered eight new viruses in their study, including one that is in the same family as Covid and which they warned had a “high probability” of infecting humans if it ever crossed the species barrier.

Following the discovery, researchers called for further experiments with the viruses to determine exactly what effects they might have on humans.

The results were published in the journal Virologica Sinica, the publishing arm of the Chinese Society of Microbiology (CSM).

CSM is affiliated with the state-affiliated China Association of Science and Technology, which accepts “the administrative supervision” of the “Ministry of Civil Affairs” of the Chinese government.

The new study analyzed 682 anal and throat swabs from various rodents captured in Hainan between 2017 and 2021.

These samples, classified by specific rodent species and locations on the island, were then sent to laboratories for testing.

The analysis revealed a large number of new ‘novel’ viruses, including a new coronavirus that the experts called CoV-HMU-1.

It turns out that CoV-HMU-1 is a betacoronavirus, a subgenre of coronaviruses that also includes Covid.

The scientists also found several new pathogens in other virus groups.

These include two new pestiviruses linked to yellow fever and dengue, a new astrovirus, a family of viruses that cause infections like gastrointestinal bacteria, two new parvoviruses that can cause flu-like symptoms, and two new papillomaviruses, a family of pathogens. can cause genital warts and cancer in humans.

They emphasized that the discovery of the new pestiviruses and parvoviruses was as important as those in the Edwards giant rat and Sikkim rat species.

Until now, they were not known to harbor such types of pathogens.

Hainan, home to about 9 million people, is isolated from mainland China.

Other such unknown viruses likely exist in similar parts of the world, the scientists added.

“The results advance our knowledge of virus classification and host range and suggest that there are highly diverse, undiscovered viruses that have evolved independently in their unique hosts in inaccessible areas,” they said.

“If these viruses cross the host barrier, they are likely to cause zoonosis.”

“The pathogenicity and associated effects of these new viruses on humans and animals should be investigated in further research.”

Rodents carrying potential pathogens pose a major threat in terms of zoonotic diseases, the researchers said.

This is because they are ‘widely distributed’, ‘exhibit species diversity’ and ‘have strong reproductive potential’.

Furthermore, they migrate in groups and are concentrated in densely populated, humid and warm areas such as central and southern China.

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