A cat named Pepper has helped scientists discover a new virus a mysterious orthoreovirus found within a shrew (Blarina peninsulae) in Gainesville, Florida, U.S. Remarakbly, this is not the first time that Pepper has undertake this microbiological feat (the cat is credited with the discovery of the first jeilongvirus found in the U.S.). The virsu has been named as ‘Gainesville shrew mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 strain UF-1’,
Researchers from the University of Florida, including virologist John Lednicky, identified this strain during unrelated testing and published its genome. Although once thought to be harmless, these viruses are increasingly linked to serious diseases in humans and animals.
With previous discoveries also pointing to a pattern of viral emergence in wildlife, scientists stress the need for more surveillance. With this regard, the feline senses of Pepper remains an unlikely but reliable viral scout.
With the discovery, Lednicky, Pepper’s owner, took Pepper’s catch — a dead Everglades short-tailed shrew — into the lab for testing as part of his ongoing work to understand transmission of the mule deerpox virus. Testing revealed the shrew had a previously unidentified strain of orthoreovirus.
Orthoreovirus
Orthoreovirus is a genus of viruses, in the family Reoviridae, in the subfamily Spinareovirinae. Vertebrates serve as natural hosts of the virus. To date, ten species have been identified pertaining to this genus. The virus is potentially pathogenic, and diseases associated with this genus include mild upper respiratory tract disease, gastroenteritis, and biliary atresia.
Viruses in this genus are known to infect humans, white-tailed deer, bats and other mammals.
With the new discovery, strain’s genes were nearly identical to an orthoreovirus found in farmed mink in China and a deathly ill lion in Japan. How in the world, the scientific community wondered, could the same hybrid virus appear in a farmed deer in Florida and two species of carnivores across the globe? Some experts speculated that components of the animals’ feed could have come from the same manufacturer.
Lednicky says: “The bottom line is we need to pay attention to orthoreoviruses, and know how to rapidly detect them.”
He adds: “I’m not the first one to say this, but essentially, if you look, you’ll find, and that’s why we keep finding all these new viruses.”
However, with the new discovery, there are many different mammalian orthoreoviruses and not enough is known about this recently identified virus to be concerned.
Research paper
The discovery appears in the journal Microbiology Resource Announcements, titled “Coding complete sequences of the 10 genomic segments of a mammalian orthoreovirus type 3 isolated from a Blarina peninsulae shrew.”
