The Coronavirus has shown us what little we know about viruses, and while we are still trying to understand the coronavirus deeply, another type of virus called the Yaravirus emerges from Brazil. The virus's genes are 90% unidentifiable, which is why this is quite alarming for the rest of the world. If this specific virus has not been identified properly, how many more viruses out there would we have to deal with in the future?
Brazil
The new virus has an interesting name behind it
Since there is no specific methodology in naming viruses, the recently discovered virus was named the Yaravirus, or the Yaravirus brasiliensis, which comes from Yara, is a popular water goddess found in the mythologies of Brazil. The Yara virus was discovered in an artificial lagoon called Lake Pampulha, located in the city of Belo Horizonte. If this virus was found in Brazil's back yard, how many viruses in other countries are just lying within the city?
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A team of two senior virologists named Bernard La Scola who is from Aix-Marseille University located in France and Jonatas S. Abrahao, who is from Brazil's Federal University located in Minas Gerais, have been able to find this odd virus with a genome composition that is still very mysterious. Two years ago, these scientists were also responsible for discovering a new Giant virus, which was known as Tupan.
The virus found has a puzzling composition
90% of the virus' gene cannot yet be identified, and there are six genes that show similarity to about 8,500 metagenomes. The virus has been confirmed to be an amoebal virus, but this is the only thing scientists are sure of at this point. With regard to the identification of this virus, the team of scientists is going to learn as much as they can about the virus and assess the danger the virus poses.
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Although not yet confirmed as a threat, this virus goes to show how little we know about the world out there, and this may be the reason why the coronavirus has been able to spread globally without a vaccine being available yet. If this virus does pose a huge threat, then it is a good thing that the team of scientists has found the virus before it had time to spread and affect the general public.
Yara and what the scientists know about it
So far, the only confirmed information is that Yara is made up of about 80 nm size particles, which means that it cannot be classified as a Giant virus since they are usually classified by having 200 nm. Although the Yaravirus cannot be considered a Giant virus, there is quite a suggestion that the Yara is an evolution of a smaller virus having components of a Giant virus. So far, most of the genomes are yet unrecognizable, and the only thing scientists know is that they only know too little about the world of viruses.
