Distant Relatives of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus and Close Relatives of Human Coronavirus 229E in Bats, Ghana

Pfefferle, Susanne; Oppong, Samuel; Drexler, Jan Felix; Gloza-Rausch, Florian; Ipsen, Anne; Seebens, Antje; Müller, Marcel A.; Annan, Augustina; Vallo, Peter; Adu-Sarkodie, Yaw; Kruppa, Thomas F.; Drosten, Christian

We tested 12 bat species in Ghana for coronavirus (CoV) RNA. The virus prevalence in insectivorous bats (n = 123) was 9.76%. CoV was not detected in 212 fecal samples from Eidolon helvum fruit bats. Leaf-nosed bats pertaining to Hipposideros ruber by morphology had group 1 and group 2 CoVs. Virus concentrations were <45,000 copies/100 mg of bat feces. The diversified group 1 CoV shared a common ancestor with the human common cold virus hCoV-229E but not with hCoV-NL63, disputing hypotheses of common human descent. The most recent common ancestor of hCoV-229E and GhanaBt-CoVGrp1 existed in ≈1686–1800 ad. The GhanaBt-CoVGrp2 shared an old ancestor (≈2,400 years) with the severe acute respiratory syndrome–like group of CoV.