[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Park Sun-mi] A study has found that the binding ability of COVID-19 to human cells is 1000 times greater than that of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
On the 27th, according to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), a research team from Nankai University in China claimed that COVID-19 has mutations similar to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Ebola, which may enable it to bind to human cells up to 1000 times stronger than the SARS virus.
The research team explained that the infection route of COVID-19 may be clearly different from that of SARS, and that this discovery could help in studying the infection spread routes and treatment methods.
The researchers added that due to mutations similar to HIV and Ebola found in COVID-19, the efficiency of the virus infecting cells may increase, which results in COVID-19 having a distinctly stronger transmission power than SARS.
The results of this study were published on the Chinese Academy of Sciences' preliminary scientific and technological paper platform, and it has recorded the highest number of views within two weeks of publication.
SCMP reported that the contents of this paper were also confirmed by a follow-up study conducted by Professor Li Hua's research team at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei Province.
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