A never-before-seen virus that could pose a threat to humans has been detected in Florida.
This pathogen belongs to the same family of viruses that causes measles and mumps, and was discovered by researchers under strange circumstances.
When Dr. John Lednicki’s pet cat Pepper drops a cottonmouth at his feet, molecular biologist Dr. John Lednicki decides to take it to his lab for further testing.
He discovered an entirely new type of Jaylon virus that evolved from more common strains found in Africa, Asia, and South America.
These viruses were previously thought to only infect rodents, but they have recently been found in bats and cats, suggesting they have the ability to jump to other species, such as humans. study authors say.
Researchers don’t yet know whether the new virus makes people sick, but Jaylon virus can sometimes cause severe respiratory illness in people, including cough, fever and difficulty breathing. They are not known to be deadly.
The new virus “replicates similarly in rodent, human, and non-human primate (monkey) cells, making it a good candidate for a spillover event,” said Dr. Lednicki of the University of Florida.
Emily DeRuyter, a doctoral candidate on the research team, said this is surprising and raises the question of what other diseases these animals may be introducing into our homes. He said he would.
A short-haired black cat named Pepper dropped the rodent in which researchers discovered the new virus at Dr. Lednicki’s feet. The virus expert was initially looking for signs that mule deer pox, a virus that is deadly in deer, was present in mice, but was surprised to find a new strain of Jaylon virus.
Because Jayronvirus is a relatively recent discovery, researchers do not yet know how these pathogens work or whether they cause severe symptoms in humans. These belong to the same family of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses. The virus pictured is not the same strain as the one found in Florida
Professor De Ruyter said: “We did not expect this type of virus. This discovery reflects the realization that many viruses that we do not know about circulate in animals that live near humans. There is,” he added.
These bugs belong to the same family of viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many respiratory flus. Researchers named the new virus Gainesville Rodent Jaylon virus 1 (GRJV1) in a paper published in the journal Pathogens.
When they isolated Jaylon virus, they found it could be active in samples of both monkey and human cells, and in the future the disease could evolve to infect humans who came into contact with infected rodent excrement. It was suggested that there is a possibility that
But Dr. Lednicki said people don’t need to worry about the new findings.
Even if the virus could infect humans, researchers say it’s unclear how severe the disease would be, and unlike other more deadly rodent viruses, it’s only a respiratory infection. This suggests that it may be a type of virus.
Additionally, Dr. Lednicki points out that viruses that humans can infect from rat feces already exist, and that humans rarely become infected with these, largely because most people are infected with these wild rat feces. This is because they do not come into frequent contact with excrement.
The cotton mouse is a type of mouse that lives in the swamps, forests, fields, and sand dunes of the southeastern United States.
They are sometimes found in homes from Texas to Florida to Virginia, but more commonly live outdoors.
They looked at the example of another group of rodent viruses called hantaviruses, which infect only about 30 Americans a year, although they are fatal in 36 percent of cases.
These bugs cause nausea, convulsions, and fever. Four Americans died from hantavirus in July.
Fortunately, the short-haired black cat who started the study, Pepper, showed no signs of illness after hooking up with the infected rodent.
