Researchers in China
have discovered a possibly new genus under the filovirus family.
The genetic material
of the Mengla virus shares 32-54% nucleotide sequence similarity with that of
Ebola and Marburg viruses, and preliminary analyses suggesting that the virus
falls between the two and hence there is a need for the creation of a new genus.
Mengla's glycoprotein enabled the virus to gain entry to a cell by binding to
the same
Niemann–Pick C1
(NPC1) surface receptor Ebola and Marburg viruses utilize. In fact, Mengla has
been shown to infect cells just as efficiently as the deadly Ebola and Marburg
viruses.
Cell lines that have
been shown to be affected by the virus include humans, monkeys, dogs, bats and
hamsters. The fact that the virus exhibits broad species cell tropism, meaning
that it can thrive in a variety of host cells, makes it dangerously capable of
interspecies spillover transmission. No known human infection has been
detected, but scientists suggest that screening the surrounding population in
Yunnan Province, where the virus was discovered, in search of how many humans
have produces antibodies against it is the next step to determining the effects
of the virus on humans.
Further concerning,
however, is that Mengla is only one of three unfamiliar viruses detected by
this particular research team out of Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, but
was the first to be thoroughly examined. Perhaps in the coming months, another
filovirus genus could be on the horizon as the team begins to work up the other
two viruses collected from the fruit bat hosts.
Riasoya Jodah
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