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.
zoonosis
The remarkable diversity of bat coronaviruses
All human viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, arose from spillovers from other animals. Results of a recent study of bat samples collected in a small region of Yunnan Province, China revealed additional close relatives of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. After the identification of SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020, wildlife sampling and retrospective genome sequencing revealed highly related viruses in …
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 »
TWiV 668: Mice, bats, and coronaviruses with Tony Schountz
Tony Schountz joins TWiV to explain the work of his laboratory showing that deer mice can be infected with and transmit SARS-CoV-2, and how his colony of Jamaican fruit bats is being used to understand their response to virus infections.
SARS-CoV-2 infection of farmed mink
SARS-CoV-2 not only infects humans but can also spread occasionally from humans to cats, dogs, and tigers. A recent addition to this menagerie is the farmed mink. In mid-April 2020 mink on two farms in the Netherlands developed signs of respiratory disease which included nasal discharge and respiratory distress. Examination of the lungs revealed interstitial …