Animals on fur farms can act as reservoirs and foci of emerging infectious diseases. A new study in China characterized 125 species of virusesincluding 36 new and 39 were at high risk of transmission between species.
The research you publish Natureled by Fudan University in China, conducted metagenomic sequencing of tissues from 461 fur-bearing animals (412 farmed and 49 from natural or artificially created wild environments) across the country.
Among these there were let’s see either red foxesas well as general purpose farm animals, those raised for furs and other products.
The study suggests that surveillance of these animals should be increased to determine possible routes of viral transmission between species and to identify viruses that could spread to livestock and humans.
The authors characterized 125 virus species, including 36 novel ones and 39 with a high risk of interspecies transmission. Among those identified were coronaviruses and influenza A viruses, it said. Nature.
Virus showing signs of frequent host hopping included 11 zoonotic (already observed in humans) and 15 cross orders (not observed in humans but in two or more orders of mammals).
Raccoon dogs have been shown to carry the greatest number of potentially high-risk viral species (10), and guinea pigs, rabbits, and arctic foxes are also considered potentially high-risk hosts.
The transmission of viruses between species is an important factor in the emergence of infectious diseasesespecially between mammals and humans.
Research on virus transmission in farm animals has typically focused on conventional livestock, such as pigs, but those raised for their fur are also potential reservoirs of emerging pathogens. Outbreaks of influenza A H5N1 virus have recently been reported in farmed mink in Europe.
