Discover the experts Virus that lives in monkeys africanus has the potential to infect humans and can lead to the next pandemic. They called for prioritization of further arterial virus studies in monkeys and the development of blood antibody tests to detect the disease.
Scientists warned of the epidemiological threat, noting that the monkey hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV), which is endemic to wild African primates, causes Ebola-like symptoms in macaques, including internal bleeding, and kills nearly all primates that infects.
No human cases have been detected so far, according to US researchers, but the virus is “ready to spread.” They said “the global health community can now avoid another pandemic” by developing tests and monitoring the virus.
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Ebola virus
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Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder sound the alarm because of the “human compatibility of the virus”.
In a laboratory study, researchers found that the virus was able to easily attach itself to a human receptor and make copies of it.
Dr Sarah Sawyer of the University of Colorado Boulder and colleagues explained, ‘This animal virus has discovered how to enter human cells, reproduce and escape some of the important immune mechanisms we expect to protect us from an animal virus. This is very rare. And we should look at it. “
Monkey hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV) causes fever, fluid retention in body tissues, loss of appetite, and bleeding. The disease is often fatal within about two weeks.
It appears to attack immune cells in the same way as HIV, which originated in a species of chimpanzee in Africa.
‘The parallels between this virus and the monkey viruses that led to the HIV pandemic are profound,’ said lead author Professor Cody Warren.
The researchers focused their work on a family of viruses called arterioviruses that commonly circulate in pigs and horses, but have not been adequately studied in non-human primates. Especially on the monkey hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV), a type of arterial virus that causes a deadly disease similar to Ebola virus disease.
A large group of African monkeys carry large amounts of arterial viruses, often without symptoms.
Researchers have yet to determine the natural host of the MHF virus.
According to the report, published Friday in the scientific journal “Cell”, no human injuries have been detected so far.
According to the researchers, the MHF virus has caused several deadly outbreaks in captive macaque colonies since the early 1960s.
Analysis of the virus revealed that the key to the biology of arterial monkey viruses is how they target a receptor molecule called “CD163” to attach and invade monkey cells.
The team said they were surprised to find in the lab that the MHF virus was extraordinarily adept at stabilizing the human version of CD163.
Once attached to the virus, it was able to enter human cells and use its position to replicate rapidly. The researchers also noted that MHF is capable of attacking immune cells and disrupting key defense mechanisms, allowing them to take long-term control over the body, just as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does. its precursors, such as the monkey immunodeficiency virus.
“The similarities between this virus and the monkey viruses that led to the HIV pandemic are profound,” said microbiologist Professor Warren.
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