The new virus, known as WIV1-CoV, directly binds to the same human receptor as the SARS strain that infected thousands in 2002.

A SARS-like virus found in Chinese horseshoe bats may be poised to infect humans without the need for adaptation, overcoming an initial barrier that could potentially set the stage for an outbreak according to a study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The work, led by Ralph Baric, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health, comes on the heels of two recent high-profile outbreaks - Ebola and Zika - for which there are no vaccines. The two outbreaks combined claimed thousands of lives and cost billions in foregone economic growth.

"The capacity of this group of viruses to jump into humans is greater than we originally thought," said Vineet Menachery, Ph.D., the study's first author. "While other adaptations may be required to produce an epidemic, several viral strains circulating in bat populations have already overcome the barrier of replication in human cells and suggest reemergence as a distinct possibility."

Baric and Menachery worked with SARS-like coronavirus sequences isolated from Chinese horseshoe bats, where SARS originated. Based on the sequences, they reconstructed the viruses to evaluate their potential to infect human cells and in mice. They found that the newly identified virus, known as WIV1-CoV, could bind to the same receptors as SARS-CoV. They also showed that the virus readily and efficiently replicated in cultured human airway tissues, suggesting an ability to jump directly to humans.

"To be clear, this virus may never jump to humans, but if it does, WIV1-CoV has the potential to seed a new outbreak with significant consequences for both public health and the global economy," said Vineet, whose work is reported in the Mar. 13, 2016 online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.