研究：在中国发现的142种冠状病毒，都与新冠疫情无关

The latest research on bats by Chinese researchers focuses on samples collected from over 13,000

bats of 56 species across 14 provinces since 2016. /CFP

据《南华早报》报道，中国的一项研究表明，在中国发现142种蝙蝠冠状病毒与近20年前导致SARS爆发的病毒有关，但没有一种与导致COVID-19的病毒密切相关。

中国医学科学院病原生物学研究所的研究人员透露，从2020年1月开始，他们从全国各地的4700多只蝙蝠中收集和测试了样本。自2016年以来，研究人员已进行了数千次测试。

A Chinese study has uncovered 142 bat coronaviruses related to the one that caused the SARS outbreak nearly two decades ago, but none closely linked to the virus that caused COVID-19, the South China Morning Post has reported.

In a paper uploaded on the preprint server Research Square on Monday, researchers from the Institute of Pathogen Biology in Beijing revealed that they had collected and tested samples from more than 4,700 bats in regions across China since January 2020, adding to the thousands tested since 2016.

蝙蝠被认为是新冠病毒的源头。

这项针对蝙蝠的研究着眼于近五年时间里，从中国14个省份56种总计13000多只蝙蝠身上收集的样本。

科学家们表示，被认为与新冠病毒最接近冠状病毒在中国的蝙蝠中“极其罕见”。

The latest research on bats, believed to be the species of origin of the virus, focused on samples collected from more than 13,000 bats of 56 species across 14 provinces since 2016.

Scientists suggest that viruses considered closest to SARS-CoV-2 are "extremely rare" in bats in China.

"This is the first bit of new sampling that I've seen from a well-known group of Chinese scientists on bat SARS-related coronavirus in China since the pandemic," the newspaper quoted disease ecologist Peter Daszak as saying. Daszak was part of a World Health Organization-led study in China earlier this year.

Leo Poon Lit-man of the University of Hong Kong called the work an important step towards helping researchers narrow down the regions and species that might harbor closer viruses.

老挝发现新冠病毒“近亲”

相似的研究在中国周边的其他国家也在进行。

2010年，研究人员从老挝附近的上丁省收集了两个马蹄蝠样本，并保存在柬埔寨巴斯德研究所(IPC)的冰箱中。

去年，IPC的研究人员对这两个样本进行了测试，发现了新冠病毒的“近亲”。

Researchers in Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos and France are studying samples collected from bats for possible clues to pinpoint the origins of COVID-19, according to media reports.

Eight researchers at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) in Phnom Penh have been collecting samples from bats in the Stung Treng province near Laos and logging their species, sex, age and other details for a week. Similar research is going on in the Philippines, according to Reuters on Monday.

Last year, researchers at the IPC did tests on two samples collected from horseshoe bats in the province in 2010, and found a close relative to the coronavirus.

"We hope that the result from this study can help the world to have a better understanding about COVID-19," field coordinator Thavry Hoem was quoted as saying.

A researcher checks the wing of a greater mouse-eared bat to determine its age during an annual checkup as scientists try to unravel the animals' secrets, Noyal-Muzillac, France, July 9, 2021. /CFP

而据彭博社报道，栖息在老挝北部石灰岩洞穴的蝙蝠也被发现携带了与新冠病毒有相似关键特征的冠状病毒。

在老挝的蝙蝠中发现的这种冠状病毒，其刺突蛋白的受体结合域（RBD）与新冠病毒的RBD仅相差一两个氨基酸，且能够与人类细胞受体“血管紧张素转化酶2（ACE2）”强烈结合并感染人类细胞。

在这项新研究中，巴斯德研究所和老挝大学的研究人员于2020年7月至2021年1月间在老挝北部石灰岩“岩溶地带”捕获了46种共计645只蝙蝠，收集了247份血液样本、608份唾液样本、539份肛拭子/粪便和157份尿液拭子。最终，在样本中发现了3种与新冠病毒RBD高度相似的蝙蝠冠状病毒。

Bats dwelling in limestone caves in northern Laos were also found to carry coronaviruses that share a key feature with SARS-CoV-2, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and the University of Laos have found three viruses with "closely matched receptor binding domains, the part of the coronavirus' spike protein used to bind to human ACE2, the enzyme it targets to cause an infection," said the report.

The researchers studied 645 bats from 46 species captured on four sites – in Fueng and Meth districts of Vientiane province, and in Namor and Xay districts in Oudomxay province – between July 2020 and January 2021.

The three viruses found in Laos, dubbed BANAL-52, BANAL-103, and BANAL-236, are "the closest ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 known to date," Marc Eloit, head of pathogen discovery at the Institut Pasteur, was quoted as saying.

"These viruses may have contributed to SARS-CoV-2's origin and may intrinsically pose a future risk of direct transmission to humans," he said.

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