Category: Zoonotic Diseases
Zoonotic Viruses: Humans More Often a Source Than a Sink
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Zoonotic viruses fill us with dread—and rightly so. Such viruses have been known to spread from animals to human hosts, transmitting deadly diseases such as Ebola, rabies, and bird flu. And according to virologists and other scientists with relevant expertise, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the source of the COVID-19 pandemic, is […]
Mar 27, 2024
People more often are origin of infectious diseases in animals than vice versa, data suggest
CIDRAP People pass twice as many viruses to domestic and wild animals than animals pass to people, concludes a study today in Nature Ecology & Evolution. University College London (UCL) researchers analyzed genomic data on nearly 12 million viruses in 32 viral families using network and evolutional analyses to characterize the mutations behind recent vertebrate species jumps. Most emerging and re-emerging […]
Mar 26, 2024
Martha Nelson on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in deer
Penn State “There don’t appear to be evolutionary adaptations required for human SARS-CoV-2 virus to transmit in deer so far,” said Eberly College of Science alumna Martha Nelson, reflecting on her past two years of work as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She discussed how the same variants of the […]
Jun 6, 2023
Dogs Could Be “Patient Zero” For Virus With Potential To Infect Humans
Newsweek A bird flu virus that has spread to canines may hop hosts in the future, potentially infecting humans through their pet dogs, according to scientists at China Agricultural University. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic gained steam in 2020, more Americans have turned their eyes to the pathology and the origin of viruses, as well as methods to […]
Apr 25, 2023
Can you catch a hidden virus from a dog kiss or a cat cuddle?
NPR “Get ready for a silly question,” one reader wrote in response to our series on “hidden viruses” that jump from animals to people. “I love my pups very much – and I think they love me too because I get lots of kisses. Is that bad from a spillover virus perspective – for me […]
Mar 14, 2023
Lion infected with covid-19 probably passed it on to two zoo workers
New Scientist A lion at Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend, Indiana, tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus after it started coughing and became breathless. Zoo workers who had cared for the lion later caught the infection. A lion that was infected with the coronavirus probably passed it on to two zoo employees, researchers have said […]
Mar 7, 2023
The Global Governance of Emerging Zoonotic Diseases
(Council on Foreign Relations) Challenges and Proposed Reforms Zoonotic diseases, naturally transmissible between humans and animals, have posed a growing public health threat for decades. However, existing institutional arrangements have fallen short. The wide-ranging, large-scale, and costly effects of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate the value of addressing those weaknesses in global governance. Introduction: The Increasing […]
Feb 14, 2023
Three Montana Grizzly Bears Euthanized Last Fall Tested Positive for Avian Flu
(NYT) The bears are believed to have contracted the virus from diseased birds, amid what a U.S.D.A. spokesman called the “largest foreign animal disease outbreak in U.S. history.” Three young grizzly bears in Montana that were euthanized last fall later tested positive for the highly contagious avian influenza, the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks service announced […]
Jan 31, 2023
‘Incredibly concerning’: Bird flu outbreak at Spanish mink farm triggers pandemic fears
(Science) Spread among captive mink could give the H5N1 strain opportunities to evolve and adapt to mammals. When mink at a big farm in Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, started to die in October 2022, veterinarians initially thought the culprit might be SARS-CoV-2, which has struck mink farms in several other countries. But lab […]
Jan 31, 2023
USDA reports more H5N1 avian flu in mammals, including bears
(CIDRAP) The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently reported 12 more highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu detections in mammals, including skunks, bears, a raccoon, and a red fox. Most of the animals that tested positive were from West Coast states, including Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. Oregon reported the virus in […]
Jan 10, 2023