Chinese scientists discover eight viruses - and warn they could infect humans

24 October 2023 , 20:45

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A team of scientists from China have discovered eight viruses (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A team of scientists from China have discovered eight viruses on a tropical island and they fear they could spread to humans.

The researchers, who have been carrying out studies to prepare the world for another pandemic, took 700 samples from rodents on the Chinese island of Hainan. In the course of their research, they found eight new viruses, one of which was from the same viral family as the coronavirus.

The pathogens have a "high probability" of infecting people should they ever cross the species barrier, according to the experts, who have called for further experiments to learn how they could affect humanity. Virologica Sinica, the journal in which the findings were published, is linked to the state-affiliated China Association of Science and Technology. This organisation is supervised by Beijing's Ministry of Civil Affairs. The journal's editor, Dr Shi Zhengli, is an influential scientist who works at the suspected epicentre of the coronovirus, the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The study took 682 swab from the anus and throat of a number of different rodents captured on the island in a four year period between 2017 and 2021, reports the MailOnline. The sample were then sent to labs and examined, with the analysis presenting a host of brand new and never-seen viruses. One of them is a new coronavirus, which has now been named CoV-HMU-1.

But the coronavirus wasn't the only cause for concern. Other pathogens included two new pestiviruses which are related to yellow fever and dengue. There was an astovirus, which causes infections like stomach bugs, a pair of parvoviruses, which cause flu, and another two papillomaviruses, which are known to cause genital warts and cancer. The researchers theorised that it's likely that there are many more unknown viruses lurking in the less frequented corners of the world.

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"The results expand our knowledge of viral classification and host range and suggest there are highly diverse, undiscovered viruses that have evolved independently in their unique wildlife hosts in inaccessible areas," they said. "If these viruses cross the host barrier, they are highly possible to cause zoonosis. The pathogenicity and associated impact of these novel viruses on humans and animals should be evaluated in further studies."

Ryan Fahey