TWiV 875: Animal house
TWiV discusses the virome of game animals in China, and the finding that binding of sarbecoviruses to ACE2 is an ancestral and evolvable trait.
spillover
SARS-CoV-2 related viruses from bats in Laos
Various SARS-CoV-2 like viruses have been isolated from bats in China, Thailand, and Japan, but none have a spike protein that can bind ACE2 and allow entry into human cells. Sampling of bats in Laos has now revealed the presence of such viruses. The genome of a virus called RaTG13, from Rhinolophus affinis bats in …
More coronaviruses in rodents
This week President Biden received the report he commissioned on the origin of SARS-CoV-2. As I predicted three months ago, nothing was learned, because to find the origin of the virus it is necessary to conduct extensive wildlife surveys. Consequently this week I would rather write about a new study that identified coronaviruses in rodents. …
Novel human coronaviruses from pigs and dogs
Recently isolated coronaviruses from humans in Haiti and Malaysia appear to have originated in pigs and dogs.
We missed SARS-CoV-2, what other coronaviruses are we ignoring?
After SARS-Cov came and went in 2003, we learned that bats in China harbor SARS-like coronaviruses with the capacity to infect human cells. This information was largely ignored, otherwise we would have stopped this pandemic in its tracks. A coronavirus that went from bats to pigs might represent yet another threat to human health. Swine …
We missed SARS-CoV-2, what other coronaviruses are we ignoring? Read More »
Pandemics and anthropogenic environmental change
All human viruses have their origin in a virus that crossed from a different animal species. The encounters that lead to these spillovers are driven by explosive human population growth and incredible change occurring in all ecosystems brought about by human occupation of almost every corner of the planet. The extent to which land-use change …
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