Could the coronavirus merge with another virus to create a new threat? – New Scientist

By Graham Lawton

John Nacion/Sopa Images/Lightrocket Via Getty Images

DOCTORS may be fretting about concurrent outbreaks of flu and covid-19 (see What will happen to covid-19 cases in winter and how can we prepare?) but some virologists are worrying about another scenario: a Frankenvirus.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19, almost certainly originated from the hybridisation of two different coronaviruses. The details remain hazy, but the viruss genome sequence suggests that this mash-up occurred in a bat about a decade ago. The bat was simultaneously infected

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Could the coronavirus merge with another virus to create a new threat? - New Scientist

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