Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1
Bat SARS-like coronavirus WIV1 (Bat SL-CoV-WIV1), also sometimes called SARS-like coronavirus WIV1, is a strain of "severe acute respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus" (SARSr-CoV) isolated from Chinese rufous horseshoe bats in 2013 ("Rhinolophus sinicus"). Like all coronaviruses, virions consist of single-stranded positive-sense RNA enclosed within an envelope. Zoonosis. The discovery confirms that bats are the natural reservoir of SARS-CoV. Phylogenetic analysis shows the possibility of direct transmission of SARS from bats to humans without the intermediary Chinese civets, as previously believed.