New research reveals why SARS-CoV-2 is more contagious.

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•  Like The variation that makes SARS-CoV-2 capable of binding to human cells is 1,000 times stronger than SARS, revealing why this strain of virus is more infectious than the new strain of corona virus, also known as SARS-CoV- 2 has the same variant as the HIV virus. That means the strain has the ability to bind to human cells 1,000 times stronger than the virus that causes SARS, a new study by scientists in China and Europe reveals.

This finding could help explain not only how the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic of pneumonia has spread, but also about the source and most effective way to deal with this strain of the virus.

Scientists say the new strain of corona virus may be very different from SARS. Photo: AP

Scientists say that SARS enters the human body by binding to a protein called ACE2 on the cell membrane. Some previous studies indicated that the new strain of corona virus resembles the gene structure of SARS by 80% so there will be a similar path of infection.

However, the ACE2 protein does not exist in large numbers in healthy people, so this partly helps limit the size of the SARS outbreak in 2002 - 2003 when the disease affected about 8,000 people worldwide. gender.

Other highly contagious viruses, such as HIV and Ebola, often attack an enzyme called furin, which acts as a protein activator in the human body. Many proteins are dormant or in a "hibernate" state when they are made and will be "cut" off at some point to activate other functions.

When looking at the genetic sequence of the new strain of corona virus, Professor Ruan Jishou and his team at Nankai University in Tianjin found that a segment of the variation gene does not exist in SARS, but is similar to the variants. found in HIV and Ebola.

"These findings have shown that the new strain of corona virus is probably significantly different from the corona virus that causes SARS during infection," the scientists said in an article published this month on the page. Chinarxiv.org - a platform that the Chinese Academy of Sciences uses to publish scientific research papers before they are evaluated by industry insiders.

According to this study, the above variation could create a split structure in the prickly protein of the new strain of corona virus. The virus uses spikes of the protruding proteins to attach to the host cell but usually the protein is in an inactive state. The task of the split structure is to deceive the human furin protein so that it cuts and activates the prickly protein as well as creates a "direct contact point" between the viral membrane and the cell membrane.

Compared to the SARS entry pathway, this combined method may be 100 to 1,000 times more effective, the study said.

Just two weeks after its publication, this article was read the most on Chinarxiv.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.