Finding the Strongest Dog Bite in 10 Breeds
US Deploys Experts To Deal With Deadly Ebola-Like Outbreak
Public health officials are sounding the alarm after an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda that has infected 27 people and killed 9.
In response to the outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement on Monday, announcing that the federal agency has offered support to help control the deadly disease.
Marburg virus disease is a severe and often fatal zoonotic illness that is usually transmitted to humans via fruit bats. Human-to-human transmission is also possible through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person, or from equipment and materials contaminated with infectious blood and tissues.
"To date, no cases of Marburg virus disease related to this outbreak have been reported in the United States, and the anticipated risk of Marburg virus disease to the general population in the United States is low," the CDC said in a statement.
A blood sample infected with the Marburg virus is seen in this image. An outbreak of the virus in Rwanda has claimed nine lives. A blood sample infected with the Marburg virus is seen in this image. An outbreak of the virus in Rwanda has claimed nine lives. Membio/GettyNewsweek has contacted the CDC via an online media request form for further updates on the situation. Africa CDC, which dispatched a team of experts to Rwanda on Sept. 29, was also contacted via email for comment.
Marburg virus belongs to the same family of viruses as Ebola, and is transmitted in much the same way. Both diseases are clinically similar and have the capacity to cause outbreaks with high fatality rates, up to 88 percent of people who are infected in the case of the Marburg virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
In its statement, the CDC said it has "offered additional support to Rwanda" to help battle the outbreak which was declared on Friday.
"CDC is deploying subject matter experts to assist with the country's investigation and response to this outbreak," the agency said. "The staff will use experience from responding to outbreaks of Marburg virus disease AND similar diseases in other countries to support epidemiology, contact tracing, laboratory testing, disease detection and control along borders and hospital infection prevention and control."
The statement also warned that health-care workers are particularly at risk in outbreak settings.
As a precaution, staff at the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, have been authorized to work remotely until Oct. 4.
"All in-person services at the U.S. Embassy during this period will be suspended, including American Citizen Services and visa interviews," the embassy said.
Contact tracing and public health advice has been issued on the ground in Rwanda. However, as things stand, there are no vaccines or treatment for the disease. Several vaccines are in development, with the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., leading the charge.
A U.S. Trial involving 40 human participants found that the vaccine is safe and generated an immune response. A larger Phase 2 clinical trial in Uganda is underway, according to Sabin.
"Sabin's Phase 2 clinical trial builds on a solid safety and immunogenicity foundation and we are hoping it will generate the information needed to move the vaccine toward licensure," Amy Finan, Sabin's chief executive officer, said in a statement at the time of the trial's launch.
Is there a health issue that's worrying you? Do you have a question about Marburg? Let us know via health@newsweek.Com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Japanese Bats Found Carrying High Levels Of Novel Viruses, Raising Concerns About Zoonotic Outbreaks
Researchers discover a startling diversity of viruses in Japanese bats, with over 60% infected, including novel strains, highlighting the urgent need for viral surveillance to prevent future pandemics.
Study: Detection of various DNA and RNA viruses in bats in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. Image Credit: Agami Photo Agency / Shutterstock
In a recent study published in the journal Microbes and Infection, researchers conducted an intensive survey of bat-derived DNA and RNA viruses from the Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. They sequenced tissue from more than 130 bats (4 species) from four sampling locations and found that more than 60% (n = 80) of them were infected with at least one strain of potentially zoonotic viruses.
Alarmingly, the study revealed significant genetic divergence in some viral strains, particularly adenoviruses, and astroviruses, indicating that these viruses may be evolving rapidly. Notably, the study identified ten novel herpesvirus strains, reported the first occurrence of astrovirus in Japanese bats, and revealed numerous representatives of adenovirus and coronavirus families.
These findings highlight the hitherto unknown diversity of viral pathogens in Japanese bats and their surprisingly high prevalence across sampled bat species. The detection of viral sequences that were genetically identical to strains found in China and Korea underscores a potential connection between Japanese and mainland Asian bats despite the general belief that these populations do not intermingle.
The study found viral sequences identical to those of Chinese and Korean origins, suggesting limited chiropteran migration between these landmasses. However, the possibility of occasional bat migration or viral exchange through other mechanisms, such as human or animal movement, cannot be ruled out.
Additional research to characterize these viruses' life histories and pathophysiologies is imperative before action plans against zoonotic transmission can be formulated, thereby preventing future bat-transmitted disease outbreaks.
BackgroundBats are speciose (>1470 species) and highly successful members of the order Chiroptera, representing at least 20% of all known mammalian species. Unlike other mammals, bats are capable of true flight, with some species known to embark on seasonal migrations of hundreds of miles. These fascinating animals are almost ubiquitous in their distribution, found on every major landmass except the Arctic and Antarctic zones.
Unfortunately, bats are also known reservoirs (natural hosts) for more than 20,000 viral species (33 families), some of which cause zoonotic diseases, including rabies, Nipah, Hendra, Ebola, and coronavirus.
Recent research suggests that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, arguably the worst pandemic in human history, originated in Chinese bats. Therefore, monitoring bats and their viral parasites is imperative to prepare for future zoonotic outbreaks.
While bats in China and the Western world have been the subject of extensive research, Japanese bats have been comparatively ignored. Hitherto, the limited number of bat-derived virus investigations have only revealed 109 strains (9 families) from the country, a probable severe underestimate of these viral carriers' true pathogenic potential and diversity.
This limited research also leaves gaps in understanding how virus strains in Japanese bats genetically differ from those found in other regions, particularly Southeast Asia. Unraveling the viral populations in Japanese bats would allow the island nation and (given bats' long-range dispersal ability) the rest of the SE Asian and Australasian region to better prepare for future zoonotic events.
About the studyThe present study comprised a year-long (2021-22) intensive investigation of DNA and RNA viruses inhabiting Japanese bats (n = 132, 4 species) from four locations within the Yamaguchi prefecture, Japan. Bats were captured in nets, and morphological examinations were conducted to classify individuals as Miniopterus fuliginosus, Myotis macrodactylus, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, or Rhinolophus cornutus.
Of the 132 individuals captured, 85 were euthanized and harvested for lung (n = 40), brain (n = 40), and rectal swab samples (n = 85). Additionally, oral swab samples were collected from all 132 captured individuals. DNA extracted from samples was amplified using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify and characterize DNA viruses.
Similarly, RNA was extracted and amplified using reverse transcription (RT) -PCR followed by nested or semi-nested PCR to identify RNA viruses. While 178 samples were screened for the presence of calicivirus, paramyxovirus, flavivirus, and rotavirus, all were negative for these pathogens.
Finally, the Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) software package was used for sequence cleaning and alignment (ClustalW). Cleaned sequences were compared with preexisting genetic data from the GenBank database. Neighbor-joining (NJ) trees were constructed for phylogenetic analysis using MEGA, with visualization done in R Software.
Study findingsOf the 297 samples collected, 124 (~42%) were positive for viral nuclear material. Notably, more than 60% of screened bats (80 of 132) were found to be infected with one or more virus strains (36% of infected bats presented multiple viral strains). Herpesvirus was the most prevalent viral family, infecting all sampled bat species and present in 42.4% (56/132) of screened oral swabs.
In particular, the herpesvirus strains identified in this study displayed phylogenetic similarities to previously identified strains from China and Spain, suggesting a more complex evolutionary history of these viruses than previously thought. Astroviruses (15.2%) and coronaviruses (9.4%) were represented in all sampled species except R. Cornutus. Adenovirus was the rarest viral family observed in only five R. Ferrumequinum and My. Macrodactylus individuals.
Herpesviruses isolated in this study were found to belong to subfamilies Betaherpesvirinae and Gammaherpesvirinae, 10 of which were novel to science. Bats infected with herpesviruses often presented multiple strains (a 'superinfection').
"In the present study, we also observed some mixed peaks in the Sanger sequencing chromatograms, precluding the accurate determination of nucleotide sequences in these samples (data not shown). Considered together, these lines of evidence strongly suggest that bats may be superinfected with multiple herpesviruses, meaning that the detection of bat herpesviruses by sequencing may be complicated by the presence of mixed sequences derived from distinct viruses."
Surprisingly, each of the five animals depicting adenovirus infections presented a unique viral strain, all aligned with sequences from the genus Mastadenovirus. These adenoviruses showed significant genetic divergence from previously sequenced Japanese bat-derived viruses, suggesting a rapid evolutionary process, possibly driven by host-specific factors. This study is also the first report of astroviruses from Japanese bats.
Since adenoviruses and astroviruses are often implicated in mammalian interspecies transmission (including humans), additional research on these strains' pathogenicities, transmission routes, and transmission cycles is required to help prepare policymakers and clinicians for future viral outbreaks.
"To date, many coronaviruses belonging to the genus Betacoronavirus, including merbecoviruses isolated from Vespertilio sinensis and Eptesicus japonensis and sarbecoviruses isolated from R. Cornutus, have been detected in eastern Japan. In the present study, only alphacoronaviruses were detected in R. Cornutus, although this correlation may reflect the small sample size employed in our study. Further investigation will be needed to identify possible infection of bats by betacoronaviruses, especially sarbecovirus and merbecovirus in the western part of Japan."
ConclusionsThe present study reveals an unexpectedly high prevalence (>60%) of zoonotic viral infections among Japanese bats from the Yamaguchi prefecture. At least 10 novel species of herpesvirus and five novel strains of adenovirus were obtained from genetic analysis, some of which displayed genetic sequences identical to those found in mainland Asia, raising questions about bat migration patterns or alternative routes of viral transmission. The rapid evolution of these viruses highlights the need for routine monitoring and screening of bat populations and parallel epidemiological research on identified strains to help prevent or address future epi- or pandemic viral outbreaks in bats, mammals, and humans.
Journal reference:
Study By International Researchers Zeroes In On The Natural Origin Of The COVID Pandemic
Science has dealt another devastating blow to the far-right conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19, was created and then leaked from a Chinese government laboratory in the city of Wuhan.
A new study published in the journal Cell demonstrates not only the overwhelming evidence of the "zoonotic" (i.E., natural, rather than artificial) origin of the virus in wild animals sold in the Huanan Market in Wuhan. It actually puts the focus on a handful of animal species present at the market and even a specific numbered stall where the transfer from animals to humans likely took place.
The lengthy and detailed study was published this week by world-renowned researchers and investigators that include Edward C. Holmes, Robert F. Garry, Thomas P. Peacock, Andrew Rambaut, Angela L. Rasmussen, Joel O. Wertheim, Kristian G. Andersen, Michael Worobey and Florence Débarre. They have analyzed genetic material from more than 800 samples that had been previously been gathered at the Chinese market shortly after the outbreak was detected, to remarkable effect.
Utilizing more sophisticated and intricate genetic techniques than previous studies, the authors have now narrowed the list of probable animals present at the wet market that may have been infected with SARS-COV-2 and acted as the intermediate host that transmitted the as of then unknown bat coronavirus to humans. These include raccoon dogs, civet cats and bamboo rats. Study co-author Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, explained that their findings will help investigators zero in on where the virus commonly circulates in animals. He said:
This may be the last big, new set of data directly from the market, and in a way, it's like finishing the last piece of a puzzle showing a picture that has been pretty clear already. We present a thorough and rigorous analysis of the data and how it fits in with the rest of the huge body of evidence we have about how the pandemic started.
The origins of the present studyWith respect to the data analyzed in this study, shortly after the wet market was closed on January 1, 2020, the Chinese CDC, led by Liu Jun, had sent teams into the buildings to collect samples. Although the animals had already been removed, they began swabbing the floors, walls, and surfaces of the numerous stalls. Several days later they returned to collect more samples from sections of the market where wildlife was sold or traded, specifically cages and carts that moved the animals, including the drains and sewers.
Over the course of the next several months, genetic sequencing of these samples led to the detection of SARS-CoV-2 from 74 environmental samples with three live viruses isolated. The results were eventually published in the journal Nature in April 2023. Although the species of animals involved were not identified, the Chinese CDC shared the sequencing data on public and open repositories.
Dr. Florence Débarre [Photo: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin]At nearly the same time, Dr. Florence Débarre, a senior researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France and theoretician in evolutionary biology, identified among the trove of data the DNA sequences from a raccoon dog found together with the RNA from SARS-CoV-2.
In a report published in Zenodo on March 20, 2023, she and colleagues explained:
On March 4, 2023, we discovered accessions posted publicly on the GISAID database corresponding to sequences from environmental samples collected at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, Wuhan. On March 9, we realized that those accessions were associated with raw metagenomic sequence read data files…
This data was consistent with the identity of the raccoon dog mixed with the genetic signature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
These wild animals were known to have been illegally sold at the market and were among the possible suspects for intermediary hosts for the virus, between bats and humans. However, the data that was posted on GISAID had not been part of the earlier dataset provided to the World Health Organization or other scientific bodies during the 2021 origin investigation and subsequent publication titled "Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment and animal samples of the Huanan Seafood market."
As Débarre noted about such scientific work:
Many of the key animal species had been cleared out before the Chinese CDC teams arrived, so we can't have direct proof that the animals were infected. We are seeing the DNA and RNA ghosts of these animals in the environmental samples, and some are in stalls where SARS-CoV-2 was found, too. This is what you would expect under a scenario in which there were infected animals in the market.
More evidence of zoonotic origins of COVIDAdditional supportive evidence for a zoonotic spillover was published by EcoHealth Alliance (EHA) and the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in August 2022 in Nature. They found high rates of infections with SARS-related coronaviruses across a large geographic swath that includes southern China, northeastern Myanmar, Laos and northern Vietnam. They estimated that around 66,000 people are infected with these pathogens every year.
EcoHealth's leader, Dr. Peter Daszak, and other principled scientists have been maligned by both the Biden-Harris administration and the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. As the World Socialist Web Site remarked recently in response to the McCarthyite hearings held by the committee on the origins of COVID-19:
It has been estimated that around 300 million people in these regions are at risk, and that the wild animal live trade involved an estimated 14 million people as of 2016. Given these facts, a natural origin zoonotic spillover, rather than a handful of scientists working at a high-level security facility accidentally leaking the virus, is a far more likely explanation. Aside from the fact that all early cases centered around the Huanan market, there is no evidence that anyone at the WIV ever contracted COVID in this period. And had they, the epidemiological map would have been a far different one than has been revealed.
Dr. Micahel Worobey, Department Head, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona. [Photo: The University of Arizona College of Science]Dr. Michael Worobey, who has spoken eloquently on his work to refute the persistent fringe conspiracy theory, explained that when infected animals are brought into contact with dense human populations, it can make it easy for viruses that make the jump to take hold and begin an outbreak. "Not all of those viruses," he said, "have the potential to start a pandemic, but when you do bring them in, it's like a spark in a tinderbox."
Dr. Holmes, an evolutionary biologist and virologist at the University of Sydney in Australia who had previously visited the Huanan wet market in 2014 and photographed a raccoon dog held behind the bars of an iron cage, said of the lab leak lie:
Although the laboratory leak allegation may at first seem appealing, particularly the coincidence of SARS-CoV-2 first appearing in a city with a large laboratory working on bat coronaviruses, closer inspection reveals that any supposed evidence for a lab leak is at best circumstantial.
Obvious evidence against the laboratory leak allegation is that the first documented cases of COVID-19 were not linked to the WIV nor in the same geographic region of Wuhan. The WIV laboratory of Professor Zhengli Shi, who has been the subject of abundant accusations because of her work on bat coronaviruses, is located more than 30 kilometers from the Huanan market epicenter. Clearly, if the virus first emerged at the WIV, then the location should be the site of at least some of the earliest cases or linked to those cases. It is not.
Findings of the genetic analysisAs the authors of the recent study noted, the market was the site where most of the wildlife vendors were illegally conducting their business. Several of them had been documented selling raccoon dogs, civets, bamboo rats, Malayan porcupines, and other species in late fall of 2019. More so, most of these vendors were working in the west wing of the market where the earliest and the majority of COVID infections occurred.
In addressing questions about the market as the origin of the pandemic, four near-complete samples of SARS-CoV-2, collected in the west wing, consisted of one from lineage A and three from lineage B, without mixture of the lineages. These two lineages were consistent with the two strains circulating during the initial phase of the outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019.
The authors wrote:
[That] the MRCA [Most Recent Common Ancestor] of SARS-CoV-2 linked to the Huanan market is equivalent to the MRCA of the pandemic establishes that the timing of the origin of the market outbreak is genetically indistinguishable from the timing of the origin of the pandemic as a whole. The presence of both lineages A and B at the market, and the spatial association of early lineage A cases with the market were results directly predicted under the hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 first emerged in the human population at the Huanan market.
Furthermore, they found that the distribution of the positive SARS-COV-2 samples was concentrated in the southwest section of the market with clustering of the data across several stalls. Also, conducting specialized analysis looking for an abundance of animal mitochondrial DNA, five SARS-CoV-2 positive samples from wildlife stall labeled A contained DNA evidence of many animal species of which raccoon dogs, hoary bamboo rats, dogs and European rabbits were found, which are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2.
Findings of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in the two sides of the Huanan Market. [Photo: Cell magazine]The scientists also set their sights on analyzing infections of the wild animals at Wuhan by other viruses to ascertain where these animals may have been brought from during their journey to the markets. The association between viral and even bacterial infections can distinguish the geographic region from which these animals were brought to Wuhan, and, by extension, narrow the location for the natural reservoir of the SARS-CoV-2.
The sequences identified samples from market animals that came from Sichuan and Guanxi. They wrote:
These findings suggest some movement of infected animals from southern China to Wuhan, a trade conduit that could have also led to the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. This result is also consistent with reports that Huanan market vendors sourced bamboo rats from Guangxi and Yunnan provinces. Movement of animal viruses such as these via the wildlife trade recapitulates the likely dispersal of SARS-CoV-1 from Yunnan to Guangdong and Hubei provinces.
A reconstruction of the mitochondrial genetic signatures from potential intermediate hosts, specifically the raccoon dog, for SARS-CoV-2 virus at the market and compared them to various subspecies of raccoon dogs known to extend from Vietnam to Russia. The data indicated that the raccoon dogs in Huanan were not from northern China and were genetically distinct from those raised on fur farms.
(Mitochondria are an important structure found in the cells of animals, plants, and fungi and function as the powerhouse generating needed energy and metabolic functions to keep the cell alive. They also possess their own DNA and can be used to trace animal ancestry.)
The researchers wrote, "These data are consistent with a geographic origin of the raccoon dogs in the Huanan market in central or southern China, from which a viral transmission chain within the animal trade could have arisen after a spillover from a bat reservoir south of Wuhan."
In their discussion they summarized the evidence:
Multiple lines of evidence are consistent with the infection of wildlife animals with SARS-CoV-2 in the Huanan market. Animal carts, a cage, a garbage cart, and a hair/feather removal machine from a wildlife stall tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and there was more DNA from mammalian wildlife species in these samples than human DNA. The surrounding stalls also had relatively higher rates of SARS-CoV-2 positivity, and drains adjacent to and downstream of this wildlife stall tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Finally, there were several other viruses known to infect wildlife in these samples. These data indicate either that the animals present at this stall shed the SARS-CoV-2 detected on the animal equipment or that early unreported human case(s) of COVID-19 shed virus in the exact same location as the detected animals. Under a zoonotic scenario, viral shedding by infected animal handlers is expected to occur after shedding by the animals they were infected by. Therefore, human viral shedding post-zoonosis could plausibly also explain these data; in such a case, the animals brought into the stall are therefore still the most likely candidates for the zoonotic source. Although either animal or human viral shedding is consistent with these data, only a zoonotic origin of SARS-CoV-2 directly predicts co-detection of SARS-CoV-2 and wildlife genetic material.
The authors also recommended that investigators direct their future search for the origin to these regions where undersampling and concrete information is lacking. They continued:
Future studies to clarify the susceptibility status of all of these species using in vitro approaches and live-animal infection experiments, should also be prioritized. The limited viral and serological sampling of these species in Southeast Asia and southern China indicates that the wildlife trade directly before the COVID-19 pandemic is highly undersampled, or underreported. Retrospective studies should be performed, where possible, testing the species described here throughout the animal supply chains of Southeast Asia and southern China, through which in all scientific likelihood the COVID-19 pandemic emerged.
ConclusionThis exhaustive work only further confirms what has been previously reported, that a zoonotic spillover that threatens humanity was the cause of the COVID pandemic that has killed 30 million people and disabled hundreds of millions more.
Even as the data in this study was being analyzed, reactionary political forces have been going into motion to discredit the scientific investigation into COVID's origins.
Dr. Peter Daszak testifying before the House committee [Photo: C-span]On May 1, 2024, there was a bipartisan inquisition of Dr. Peter Daszak, in which Democrats vied with Republicans to promote the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2 was created with the support of the international non-profit research organization, EcoHealth Alliance, in a Chinese lab. It was nothing less than a show trial, to scapegoat Daszak and shift blame for the pandemic onto the Chinese government.
This claim originated with Donald Trump's fascist adviser Steve Bannon and a Chinese multi-millionaire anti-communist. It has been embraced by "mainstream" media outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post with pseudo-scientific demands that opponents of the lab leak "theory" provide irrefutable evidence of specific infected animals at the market.
These demands have been pressed despite the all-too-obvious fact that the proponents of the lab leak conspiracy have never offered any objective evidence of it. They completely ignore the ongoing investigations that have reaffirmed the zoonotic origin centered on the wet market and prefer to employ slanders and innuendos against scientists.
Philipp Markolin, whose exhaustive summary on the science behind the origin of COVID is essential reading, said of the attack on principled researchers, "The message is crystal clear. Speak up against us and our political myth making, and we will publicly smear and punish you with the power of the state."
However, due to the tireless efforts by leading scientists to uncover the real origins of the pandemic, irrespective of the incessant attacks from reactionary forces on all fronts, attempts to present the lab leak lie as an incontrovertible fact have been, at least in the realm of scientific inquiry, thwarted.
The suggestion that lab leak conspiracy theories hold equal weight to the findings of actual science only underscores the extent to which imperialist war plans against China are driving the political agenda in Washington.
Precisely because of these geopolitical maneuvers to blame the pandemic on China, the pandemic as a trigger event is being used to infect the consciousness of the population to accept the basest lie as credible and turn science into fraud by maligning the scientists who continue to conduct this work. Such was the case with Kristian Andersen, who was attacked in 2023 by the House committee for his "origin" paper that established zoonosis as the most likely and plausible cause of the pandemic.
Dr. Andersen said recently about the present investigation, "Of any previous outbreak, pandemic, you name it, we don't have this level of granularity. We can narrow it down to a single market and narrow it down to a section in that market, and maybe even narrow it to a single stall in that market. That is mind-boggling." And one must add, very problematic for the agenda to use the pandemic as a selling point for war against China.
And precisely because science can uncover such necessary details, it has perturbed the powers in Washington who have set their task to label these scientists as malicious consumers of federal monies and call their work into question. The suspension of EcoHealth Alliance and calls for debarment are but a prelude to a broader imposition by the capitalist state on science and academia that demands conformity with the policy agenda of imperialism.
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