New COVID-like virus found in bats could infect humans, resist vaccines, says Study

A recently discovered virus in a Russian bat that is similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, is likely capable of infecting humans and, if it were to spillover, is resistant to current vaccines.

A team lead by researchers in Washington State University's Paul G. Allen School for Global Health found spike proteins from the bat virus, named Khosta-2, can infect human cells and is resistant to both the monoclonal antibodies and serum from individuals vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2. Both Khosta-2 and SARS- CoV-2 belong to the same sub-category of coronaviruses known as sarbecoviruses.

Reference:

Seifert SN, Bai S, Fawcett S, Norton EB, Zwezdaryk KJ, Robinson J, et al. (2022) An ACE2-dependent Sarbecovirus in Russian bats is resistant to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. PLoS Pathog 18(9): e1010828. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010828