At the Asean Digital Public Health Ministerial, professor Wang Linfa from Duke University’s Emerging Infectious Diseases program – NUS, said this phenomenon is called reverse-zoonosis.
Most scientists believe that the ancestors of nCoV resided in the bodies of bats found in Asia.
`Next, as we know, the outbreak spread widely in the human population. But what surprised us was that the virus was easily transmitted from humans back to animals,` Professor Wang explained.
To date, the world has recorded a few cases of pets being infected with nCoV from their owners, but the reverse cases have not been confirmed.
According to experts, a situation could occur such as an individual bat eating fruit left by an infected person.
Professor Wang and his colleagues successfully cultured nCoV after it appeared in Wuhan and last year, making Singapore the third country after China to do so.
`Bats have a very unique immune system. They can maintain the virus in their bodies without developing disease. However, the virus still mutates and is transmitted to other animals X, Y, Z. When the virus mutates
Every time a virus spreads between species, it is forced to undergo major genetic changes to adapt to the new host.
A bat was discovered by scientists in a cave near Ely city, Nevada, USA.
Professor Wang proposed three levels of preparation for each country to respond to this new pandemic.
The first level is before the pathogen appears.
Scientists must work with government agencies and international organizations to assess risks and prepare countermeasures to prevent the spread of the virus.
The second level is early warning.
The final level is when the virus begins to spread.
Professor Wang and his colleagues developed a separate vaccine for booster injections in the future, effectively protecting users even when nCoV and coronaviruses in general mutate.
These antibodies also tackle coronaviruses transmitted from other animals.
He plans to recruit more volunteers who had SARS in Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Toronto.