A never-before-seen virus that may pose a threat to humans has been detected in Florida.
The pathogen belongs to the same family of viruses that cause measles and mumps and was discovered by a researcher under strange circumstances.
Dr. John Lednicky’s pet cat Pepper dropped the common cotton mouse at his feet and, as a molecular biologist, he decided to take it to his lab for further testing.
He discovered a new type of jeilongvirus that had evolved from more common strains found in Africa, Asia and South America. Previously thought to only infect rodents, they have recently been found in bats and cats, which the study authors say suggests it has the ability to jump to other species, such as humans.
Researchers still don’t understand whether this virus makes people sick, but they said jeilongviruses have occasionally caused severe respiratory illnesses (with cough, fever, and trouble breathing) in humans. They are not known to have been fatal.
Dr. Lednicky, a virus expert at the University of Florida who conducted the research, said this new virus: “grows equally well in cells from rodents, humans and non-human primates (monkeys), making it a great candidate.” for a contagion event”.
This was surprising and raises questions about what other diseases these animals could carry into our homes, said Emily DeRuyter, a doctoral candidate on the research team.
A short-haired black cat named Pepper dropped the rodent in which the researchers found the new virus at Dr. Lednicky’s feet. The virus expert initially looked in mice for signs of mulepox, a virus that is deadly in deer, and was surprised to find the new class of jeilongvirus.
Jeilong viruses were discovered relatively recently, so researchers are still unsure how these pathogens work and whether they would make humans seriously ill. They belong to the same family of viruses that cause respiratory diseases. The virus in the image is not the same strain as the species found in Florida.
DeRuyter added: “We did not expect such a virus, and the discovery reflects the realization that many viruses we do not know about circulate in animals that live in close proximity to humans.”
These insects are in the same family as the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many respiratory flus. The researchers named their new virus Gainesville rodent jeilong virus 1 (GRJV1) in their paper, published in the journal Pathogens magazine.
When they isolated the jeilong virus, they found that it was able to activate within samples of human and monkey cells, suggesting that in the future, the disease could evolve to infect humans who come into contact with droppings from an infected rodent.
However, Dr. Lednicky said people should not worry about their new discovery.
Even if the virus could spread to humans, researchers are unsure how severe the illness would be and suggest it could simply be respiratory in nature, unlike other, more deadly rodent viruses.
Additionally, Dr. Lednicky said that there are already viruses that humans can contract from mouse droppings, and that it is rare for people to become infected with them, mainly because most people do not frequently come into contact with droppings. infected from these wild mice.
The cotton mouse is a type of mouse native to the swamps, forests, fields, and dunes of the southeastern United States.
They are sometimes found in homes from Texas to Florida and Virginia, but most commonly live outdoors.
They looked at an example of another group of rodent viruses, which while fatal in 36 percent of cases, only affect about 30 Americans per year, called hantaviruses.
These insects cause nausea, cramps and fever. In July, four Americans died from hantavirus.
Fortunately, Pepper, the short-haired black cat that started the study, showed no signs of illness after catching the infected rodent.