New Coronavirus spreads quietly among rodents in Sweden sparks anxiety
Although it is known that wild animals can be carriers of viruses that are spread among human species, the potential threat they pose to public health requires constant observation.
In Sweden, researchers have identified a widespread and new coronavirus called the Grimsö virus among rodents – more specifically red-backed bank vultures (Myodes glareolus), ScienceAlert reported. It is not known what danger it can cause to humans in any way, but it is still a reminder to monitor wild viruses carried by animals that we most likely have close contact with.
“Based on our observations and previous coronavirus identified among bank vultures, there are good reasons to continue to monitor the coronavirus among wild rodents,” says virologist Åke Lundkvist from Uppsala University in Sweden in the study published in Virus.
Wild disease among vultures
Lundkvist and his colleagues have tried to monitor wild diseases among voles to better anticipate opportunities for spill-over.
Bank vultures are common rodents in Europe and are known to host the Puumala virus, reported by a study published in National Library of Medicine. This virus causes a hemorrhagic fever called nephropathia epidemica in humans. In Europe, there are more than 10,000 annual cases of nephropathia epidemica.
The risk of contracting diseases from voles is high because they seek shelter in human buildings or shelters, which easily carries diseases into your household. In addition, researchers warn that the risk of interactions with rodents is likely to increase in the future as climate change destroys their natural habitat.
– Between 2015 and 2017, we consistently found what we have called the “Grimsö virus” in 3.4 percent of these vultures, which would indicate that the virus is widespread and common in Sweden’s bank vultures, says Lundkvist. He led the study together with researcher Jiaxin Ling and Anishia Wasberg, doctoral student and first author.
Researchers from the Zoonosis Science Center aim to map zoonotic viruses, understand the interaction between viruses and host animals and develop methods that can effectively limit large virus outbreaks that are spread in humans from animals.
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Bank vultures as natural reservoirs for the disease
Researchers in Sweden have found several distinct viral strains of the Grimsö virus among vultures over three years old, including other related coronaviruses spread in other parts of Europe, such as France, Germany and Poland. They further explain that the highly divergent virus can be easily adapted to new hosts and habitats.
In addition, they reveal that human exploitation of wildlife “has directly increased the risk of animal diseases being transmitted to humans”, especially among bats, rodents and primates that have adapted to human environments in the wild.
It is also important to keep an eye on other vectors of human disease such as larger mammals in close contact with human civilization. An example of this is wild deer, of which approximately 40 percent have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the United States, according to ScienceAlert.
In addition, declining livestock has been rolled into the covid-19 pandemic, which worries researchers because the virus shows a possible mutation among them.
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