Humans and cats have lived together for thousands of years, and in that time we have learned a lot about these animals, but they continue to surprise us. In a new study, scientists have described the first Ceylon virus discovered in the United States. Interestingly, it was also the first virus of its kind identified and the only one discovered accidentally by a cat.
Oku.Az“IFLScience” writes about this.
It all started when the owner of a cat named Pepper brought a dead mouse to John Lednitsky, a research professor at the University of Florida. Not all cat owners would like this, but the scientist was interested because he is a virus expert and was investigating whether rodents carry the deerpox virus, the type of virus that causes the characteristic lesions on the deer skin.
Professor Lednitsky and his team examined the mouse carcass, but did not detect the deerpox virus in its body. Instead, they found something more interesting: the mouse was infected with the Ceylon virus.
It should be noted that Ceylon-type viruses have so far not been found in the United States: they were previously only found in South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In these regions, the virus usually infects rodents and can also be transmitted to bats and cats.
But this was not the only discovery that scientists were able to make. The virus became unique not only for the United States, but also for science in general. Genetic testing has shown that the Ceylon virus is different from other viruses of this species. Scientists named it GRJV1.
According to Emily DeRuyter, first author of the article, they and the team did not expect this type of virus. In fact, its discovery reminded us once again that there are many viruses on Earth that we are still unaware of. Furthermore, many of them circulate among animals that live very close to humans.
Ceylon viruses are known to belong to a larger family called paramyxoviruses. They are known to be transmitted between species and cause respiratory infections in humans.
In the study, the team infected cells from different species with GRJV1 to see if it had the potential to do the same. The results show that the virus grows with equal success in cells from rodents, humans and non-human primates.
The authors of the study are in no hurry to panic, because most people on the planet do not actually come into contact with wild mice and rats, but scientists believe that this discovery requires further research. Ideally, animal studies would be conducted to determine whether the virus causes disease in rodents and other small animals.
