2024-09-05 10:56:51
New and dangerous viruses, such as coronavirus or influenza, are found in dogs, mink, foxes and other animals grown for fur in China.
Furry animals, write in the magazine’Creation‘can act as important reservoirs and transmission centers for infectious diseases.
The study, which included physical data from 461 fur animals, mostly raised on farms, found 125 types of viruses, of which 39 showed a high risk of transmission between species. According to the authors, surveillance of these animals should be increased to identify possible routes of transmission between species and detect viruses with the potential to jump to animals and humans.
The transfer of viruses between species is a key factor in the emergence of new infectious diseases, especially when it comes to animals and humans.
Research on viral transmission in farm animals has generally focused on traditional livestock such as pigs, but animals grown for fur can also be reservoirs of emerging viruses.
A recent example is the outbreak of influenza A virus (H5N1) reported in European mink farms.
Researchers identified 125 virus species, of which 36 are new and 39 are at high risk of interspecies transmission. Among the known viruses are coronaviruses and influenza A viruses.
Viruses that show evidence of frequent species jumps include 11 zoonotic viruses (already present in humans) and 15 viruses that affect multiple orders of animals.
Raccoon dogs are the carriers of the highest number of high-risk viral species (10), while guinea pigs, rabbits, and arctic foxes are also considered possible dangerous hosts.
This work, says Gustavo del Real, of the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INDIA-CSIC), a Science Media Center“shows that animal species used in the fur industry can be reservoirs of various zoonotic viruses.”
Del Real explained that most of the identified proteins are closely related to proteins found in circulation in animals, although divergent protein variants are also found, and 36 types of proteins that have not been described before. “Among the known viruses are many viruses associated with human infections, hepatitis E, Japanese encephalitis virus, reovirus, norovirus and rotavirus. The discovery of 7 species of coronavirus stands out, some of dog, mouse and bat origin. “They also found influenza viruses of human and swine origin with evidence of replication events between them.”
In his opinion, the data published in this work reveal three facts. “Species with fur, especially some of them, such as mink, fox and pig, are susceptible to infection by many viruses, both respiratory and enteric tropism.” Moreover, he adds, “the frequent transfer of many viruses between agricultural and wild animal species, and the very intensive exploitation methods of fur-bearing animals facilitate the infection, spread and transfer of viruses.”
Take preventive measures
In conclusion, he pointed out that “the study provides very valuable information to design and implement preventive measures that prevent the appearance of new pathogenic viruses in humans and animals and the appearance of future pandemics. In many countries, including Spain, health control measures in fur farms are insufficient, although following the recent outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 and H5N1 avian in mink farms in our country, surveillance has increased to. In other countries, such as the Netherlands, mink farms are completely closed for the same reason. Although there are fur farms in many countries in the world, with China as the main producer, their presence is in decline, especially in European countries where this industry is not very popular.
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