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This is not the end of the pandemic problems. Scientists warn that different strains of the coronavirus may continue to transform and change their properties. It is also possible that they spread between humans and animals. The research is ongoing, informs the portal Science.
- American scientists in Ohio are studying animal coronaviruses for their transmission to humans
- A few years ago, Malaysian children who had pneumonia may have been infected with the “canine” coronavirus
- Porcine coronaviruses can also be dangerous for humans. Researchers at the University of Florida are researching this
- More similar information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page
There may be many more variants of the coronavirus that are dangerous to humans than we think. Those that are transmitted by animals and can infect humans are a particular threat. Doctors and scientists are beginning to connect to the present situation events that happened a few years ago or even earlier.
Coronvirus. Malaysian children infected by dogs?
The starting point for the research currently being conducted by US scientists in Ohio was the story of eight Malaysian children hospitalized with pneumonia several years ago. According to today’s researchers, the children were infected with a strain of coronavirus similar to that found in dogs. This fact, together with information on the coronavirus leaking from pigs to humans, leads to the conclusion that the coronavirus has yet to say the last word. His family is still growing and could still be a global threat.
- How many pets get COVID-19? Can they transmit the virus to humans?
There is no definite answer to the question of whether the virus that infected animals is related to the one that causes the disease in humans. It is also not known whether the “canine” virus transmitted to humans can spread further between people, or whether it is rather a “dead end” and the infection process stops in one patient.
The medical journal “Clinical Infectious Diseases” presented a report according to which the virus detected in Malaysian patients is a chimera of four coronaviruses, similar to those that infected dogs, cats and pigs. This is the first report to suggest that animal viruses can replicate in humans. To confirm this suggestion, however, the research must continue.
- Will animals need to be vaccinated against COVID-19?
“ We don’t have any clear evidence that this particular strain of coronavirus is better suited to humans because of the structure of the spines, ” says veterinary virologist Anastasia Vlasova of Ohio State University (OSU), lead author of the study. However, he also admits that human infections caused by canine coronaviruses may occur at a much greater frequency than previously thought.
Additional data on the aforementioned Malaysian children support the argument that certain variants of the coronavirus can be transmitted from animals to humans. For example, that most of them lived in villages or in the suburbs, where they probably had frequent contacts with domestic animals, but also wild animals from the jungle. Only today’s studies of samples taken from Malaysian patients at that time showed the resemblance to animal viruses. Until recently, no one looked for these viruses in patients with such diseases. “These canine and feline coronaviruses are everywhere in the world,” says Stanley Perlman, a virologist at the University of Iowa.
- Animals are also infected with SARS-CoV-2; some scientists want to vaccinate them
According to Vito Martell, an Italian veterinary virologist, the animal that actually transmitted the new virus to humans could be a cat, a pig, a dog “or some wild carnivore”. Martella plans to examine stored fecal samples from Italian children with acute gastroenteritis to see if she can find anything similar.
Scientists categorize coronaviruses into four types – alpha, beta, gamma, and delta – this new one is alpha. It is the third alpha coronavirus that infects humans. The other two cause colds at best, and most people are exposed to them early in life. This theory may explain why, in Malaysia, only children who remained in the hospital for a few days were infected with it and then completely recovered.
The most dangerous variants of the coronavirus so far – SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV have been identified as beta.
The suggestions of scientists from Ohio, linking human illness with viruses found in animals, are not the only ones. In March, scientists at the University of Florida published information about the first evidence of human infection with the coronavirus in pigs. The virus was detected in the blood of three children from Haiti who fell ill between 2014 and 2015. Scientists transferred serum samples into monkey cells and were able to grow viruses that they genetically matched to known porcine coronaviruses. If the ability of these viruses to infect humans is confirmed, it could also be viewed as a pandemic threat.
Both reports by scientists clearly indicate that animal diseases and their importance to public health should not be underestimated. Research is necessary to get answers to the most pressing questions for both medics and ordinary people. They are also an argument for introducing coronavirus vaccines for pets as soon as possible.
Read also:
- How many pets get COVID-19? Can they transmit the virus to humans?
- EC warns: new coronavirus variants could be more resistant to vaccines
- Scientists warn of the British COVID-19 mutation.
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