Two new SARS-like coronaviruses described in Russian horseshoe bats
Horseshoe bats (
Rhinolophus sp.) are known reservoirs of zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs). Over the last twenty years, viruses thought to have originated from these bats have given rise to two severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic outbreaks in humans: SARS-CoV-1 in 2002/2003, which was limited mostly to Asia, and the currently globally circulating SARS-CoV-2, first identified in December 2019.
Several species of horseshoe bat are distributed across much of Eurasia and Northern Africa, and host a number of as yet unidentified SARS-like coronaviruses. As much of the world remains in the grip of the 2019 SARS-CoV-2 outbreak almost 18 months on, it is of great importance to identify and determine the prevalence of SARS-adjacent coronaviruses in horseshoe bat populations where future epidemics could arise from.