There is another coronavirus with the potential to target humans. It is called SADS-CoV – what is causing the covid-19 pandemic is SARS-CoV-2 – and it affects pigs, so it is called swine diarrhea syndrome.
What researchers at the University of North Carolina in the United States announced this week is that the strain of a new type of coronavirus affects pigs and can be replicated in human liver and intestine cells, as well as airway cells. As there are no reported cases in humans, it is unknown what the effects of the disease may be. It is said that the greatest probability of passing from animals to humans will be through contact – the pig keepers and breeders are therefore the most at risk.
The Sads-CoV virus started to infect pig farms in China in 2016. Diarrhea and vomiting are the most common symptoms in animals, with piglets being more affected than adults – the virus caused the death of 90% of the young that contracted it.
The study, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says the virus is in the same family as Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19. Last year, group 14 epidemiologists, immunologists and microbiologists at UNC-Chapel Hill, led by Caitlin Edwards and Rachel Graham, studied Sads-CoV to find out whether the virus could jump species and infect humans.
Infected mammalian cells
And they concluded that there is such a possibility, although there are no registered cases in this regard. To reach this conclusion, the researchers infected several types of cells with a synthetic formula of SADS-CoV. The results show that a large number of mammalian cells, including humans, are susceptible to becoming infected. These cells were found mainly in the liver, lungs and intestines.
“It is impossible to predict whether this virus could emerge and infect human populations. However, the wide range of SADS-CoV hosts, together with the ability to replicate in the human lung and enteric cells, demonstrates a potential risk for future emergency events. in human and animal populations, “says Caitlin Edwards, cited by Exam Brazilian.
Rachel Graham added to the The News & Observer that the “tricky part is that we don’t know what types of diseases would manifest” if the virus passed on to humans. Although the virus causes gastrointestinal problems in pigs, in humans it can cause respiratory or other problems.
A different virus than the one that killed pigs in China
According to the researchers, this is a different virus than the one that has killed millions of animals in China and spread to the rest of the world – this was a virus of the Asfarviridae family, which only infects pigs and wild boars, unrelated to the coronavirus and that hits humans. Apparently, it is also different from another already found in pigs and derived from H1N1.
“While many researchers are focusing on the emerging potential of beta-choronaviruses such as SARS and MERS, alpha-choronaviruses can be equally worrying for human health”, said Ralph Baric, professor of epidemiology and global public health at the University of North Carolina.
“If this virus were to occur in the United States, the main concern would be the swine industry,” added Rachel Graham. After China and the European Union, the USA is the world’s leading pig producer.
Caitlin Edwards and Rachel Graham told the The News & Observer that the team of researchers sent their findings for publication in early 2020, before the pandemic was declared. But halting the escalation of covid-19 has become a priority for scientists. Who have no hands to measure with coronaviruses.
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