Rousettus bat coronavirus HKU9


Rousettus bat coronavirus HKU9 is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA mammalian Group 2 Betacoronavirus discovered in Rousettus bats in China in 2011. This strain of coronavirus is closely related to the EMC/2012 strain found in London which is related to the Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus. The MERS-CoV species is responsible for the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy.

Transmission

The exact means of transmission to humans is not yet well known. However, it has been demonstrated that betaCoV's including HKU4 have the propensity to recombine and cause interspecies transmission. However, this is not seen in Group C betaCov's to which MERS-CoV is most closely related.