Virus Reservoirs Unknown virus identified

Virus Reservoirs: Unknown virus discovered in royal pythons

09/13/2014

Numerous viruses that can cause dangerous infectious diseases come from the animal kingdom. But not only mammals, but also reptiles can be a reservoir of viruses. American researchers have now discovered a previously unknown pathogen in royal pythons.

Respiratory diseases in pythons in captivity
According to press reports, US researchers have discovered a virus that causes life-threatening respiratory diseases in royal pythons. The biologists around Joseph DeRisi of the University of California, San Francisco, showed the nidovirus pathogens in eight captive snakes that had pneumonia. According to a communication from the magazine „mbio“, in which the study appears, the biochemist DeRisi said: „This is very exciting because until now no virus of this species was known to reptiles.“ In the case of royal pythons (Python regius), who live in captivity, these "respiratory diseases have been known since the 1990s, without knowing the cause".

Hitherto unknown virus discovered
DeRisi and colleagues compared tissue samples from eight pneumonia-affected pythons and 57 healthy snakes. They discovered under the electron microscope initially with two pythons virus-like particles in cells lining the lungs. Finally, they found the previously unknown virus in the genome of all diseased snakes, especially in the respiratory tract, but not in healthy reptiles. The pathogen was named by the researchers „Ball Python Nidovirus“ (Python-Nidovirus). As the scientists write, it is around 33,500 base pairs, the largest known nidovirus genome.

Viruses could potentially be dangerous to humans
However, the researchers do not yet know how the virus spreads, whether it occurs in other animals and how often occurs in royal pythons in nature. But this report is according to the scientists „To enable diagnoses that help determine the role of the virus in the development of disease.“ The disease could be better controlled in zoos and private collections - royal pythons are also kept as pets worldwide. As the team emphasized, reptiles are also reservoirs of viruses that could potentially harm humans.

Many dangerous viruses come from the animal kingdom
Numerous viruses that can cause dangerous diseases in humans come from the animal kingdom. For example, animals such as certain species of monkeys, camels or bats have been found or suspected to have originated from HIV, Sars or Mers. Even with the currently in West Africa rampant Ebola epidemic, the pathogen probably comes from the animal kingdom. For example, people can become infected with the virus through contact with diseased monkeys and often develop the typical Ebola symptoms within a few days.

Scientists advise more research
Biologists now also want to investigate reptiles for pathogens. Scientists at Columbia University in New York have recently estimated that "only the group of mammals worldwide contain at least 320,000 different viruses." What is currently known about viruses is based largely on those pathogens that have jumped on humans or animals and caused disease. Considering the threat to humanity and the costs associated with new diseases, the researchers advise in the journal „mbio“ urgently to explore these microorganisms more. Lessons learned could help protect people from disease. (Ad)