Researchers have detected and isolated the Lloviu virus they found in bats in Hungary. The Ebola-related virus can transfer between animals and humans, making it a zoonotic virus and sparking fears of a new pandemic.
Like COVID-19, a zoonotic disease could cause widespread transmission between continents in the right conditions. However, experts highlighted that the discovery is nothing more than a scientific achievement that needs urgent research to prevent the next pandemic.
Isolation of Filoviridae Lloviu Virus in Bats in Hungary
Daily Express reported that the Lloviu virus (LLOV) was first found in the dead bats in a cave in Llovio, Spain. Then in 2002, the RNA of Schreiber's bats was detected in Hungary too. Fortunately, researchers have now managed to isolate LLOV and worked out the virus's ability to infect human cells and replicate.
LLOV is part of the filoviradae or filoviruses. The two common member of the filovirus famiy are Ebola virus, and Marburg virus. Unlike the other two that have been detected in Africa, LLOV was detected in Europe, and researchers from the Medway School of Pharmacy have helped isolate the virus for the first time, highlighting the need for future research to prevent the next pandemic.
Unfortunately, their work also revealed no-antibody cross-reactivity between LLOV and Ebola found. That means that existing Ebola vaccines may not provide protection against LLOV if it gets transmitted to humans.
Dr. Simon Scott, involved in the study, describes the findings as a "smoking gun." He said that it is crucial to know both more about the distribution of the virus and that research is done to evaluate the risks and make sure that everyone is prepared for potential epidemics and pandemics.
The research also shows that there is a knowledge gap on the pathogenicity, animal hosts, and transmissibility of these novel viruses, according to the news release from the University of Kent.
Dr. Scott has created a consortium of European bat virologists to carry out essential research across Europe to find out the risks of LLOV to humans and find out more about other families of viruses, such as coronavirus, found in bats.
Should People Be Afraid of the Lloviu Virus?
Experts are constantly searching for new viruses that might cause the next pandemic, like the COVID-19 did in the past two years. And that was why Hungarian researchers discovered the LLOV in the bats after seven years of hard work.
Daily News Hungary reported that researchers found the distant relative of the Ebola virus in a location far from human settlements in Hungary. As of now, researchers are continuously conducting studies to further learn about its behavior and mechanism.
Filoviruses were first discovered in 1967 when German researchers working with grivets in Africa to develop vaccines got infected with a mysterious deadly virus that caused the death of seven researchers. Meanwhile, Ebola was discovered in 1976 near the Ebola River in Congo, which has a mortality rate of 50%. But recent advances in medicine have successfully lowered the mortality rate to below six percent.
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