Detected 18 viruses in wild animals that pose a risk to humans

China has just conducted a comprehensive survey of viral pathogens in wild animals, discovering 18 of them harboring a range of diseases that threaten humans and other animals.

China's National Key Research and Development Program has supported scientists in many institutions, looking for future pandemic threats.

This is China's first comprehensive study to assess which wild animals are most likely to carry viruses that can cause pandemic outbreaks.

Studying wild animals traded in Chinese markets, scientists identified 71 viruses in mammals. Of these, 18 are considered "high risk" to people and pets.

Civets, the cat-like carnivores implicated in spreading a severe acute respiratory virus in markets in southern China nearly 20 years ago, carry the most worrisome bacteria, according to research published today. Dad on 11/12.

Civets are sold at a wildlife market in China

Authors in China, the US, Belgium and Australia did not find anything similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they have shown that strains carried by bats infect other animals, posing a risk of spreading dangerous diseases.

Co-author Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sydney, Australia, said in an email: "This study also shows that humans routinely transmit their viruses to other animals. have two-way virus traffic". 

The wildlife trade market in China was estimated to be worth $82 billion in 2016.

China banned the wildlife trade after the Covid-19 outbreak appeared. Following this move, in early 2020, China acknowledged poor sanitary conditions and close contact between animals and humans. At the same time, the diversity of species in the live animal markets and restaurants they serve create ideal breeding grounds for emerging infectious diseases.

Many of the wildlife under investigation were on display at the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, the epicenter of the original Covid-19 outbreak. Among the remarkable viral findings, the scientists identified for the first time the presence of the hepatitis E virus and the H9N2 influenza strain in civets.

Biologist Holmes, who was awarded the Australian Prime Minister's Science Prize, said: "Animals sold in live animal markets carry a lot of viral pathogens. The timing, the environment can be favorable. making it easy for this virus to cause a global pandemic."