In May 2021, a black cat named Pepper surprised his owner by dropping a dead mouse at his feet, an event that would unexpectedly alert scientists to the emergence of an exotic virus in the United States.
Pepper, known for his hunting skills, often presents “gifts” to his humans, so this behavior was not unusual. However, owner John Lednicky, a microbiologist at the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, suspected that the mouse might carry a virus known as deer mulepox. Instead, lab tests revealed that the mouse was harboring the first jeilongvirus identified in the U.S., as reported in the journal Pathogens.
Alarmingly, this was a genetically mutated strain of jeilongvirus, a virus previously found in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. Lednicky explained, “It grows equally well in rodent, human, and nonhuman primate [monkey] cells, making it a great candidate for a spillover event” that could lead to a human epidemic or pandemic.
Jeilingoviruses are known to infect mammals, reptiles, birds, and fish, and can occasionally cause serious illnesses in humans. They belong to the paramyxovirus family, which is associated with respiratory infections.
Lead researcher Emily DeRuyter, a doctoral candidate in the UF Department of Environmental and Global Health, remarked, “We were not anticipating a virus of this sort, and the discovery reflects the realization that many viruses we don’t know about circulate in animals that live in close proximity to humans. Indeed, if we were to look, many more would likely be discovered.”
The researchers named their discovery Gainesville rodent jeilong virus 1. They emphasized that although it can infect various species, there is no cause for alarm. Most humans have limited contact with the wild rats and mice that serve as the primary hosts for jeilongviruses, similar to hantavirus.
“Humans can develop severe to fatal illness if infected by hantaviruses, but such infections remain rare and typically occur only among those who come into contact with rodent waste, often through airborne exposure to rodent urine or feces,” DeRuyter noted.
Lednicky emphasized the need for animal studies to determine whether the virus causes illness in rodents and other small animals. “Eventually, we need to assess if it has affected humans in Gainesville and the rest of Florida,” he stated.
The research team is sharing their findings to aid in surveillance efforts to identify any circulating jeilongviruses.
As for Pepper, he has shown no symptoms from his encounter with the mouse. “Cats, in general, evolved to eat rodents and are not sickened by the viruses carried by them,” Lednicky explained. “However, we need to conduct tests to see whether the virus affects pets and humans.”
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