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Follow on Google News | New Advances in Veterinary Vaccine Development and Disease ControlFind out about the exciting new research and development advances in the field of veterinary science and disease control.
By: Formaspace Covid-19 Zoonotic And Reverse Zoonotic Infections Researchers are still trying to determine the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. Was it a zoonotic disease that originated in bats, spreading to other species (such as pangolins) and eventually humans – or was it the result of an outbreak in a research lab in China? This controversy remains unsolved. Fortunately for most companion pets, e.g. dogs and cats, the risk of interspecies Covid infections is minimal in dogs or non-existent in cats. However, veterinary researchers have been able to identify species populations that are particularly vulnerable to Covid infection. For example, minks are very susceptible to the virus. Not only can minks become infected with Covid from humans (reverse zoonotic infection), they can harbor the virus (creating a viral reservoir) and create new variants that have to potential to re-infect humans. For this reason, there was widespread culling at European mink farms at the outset of the virus outbreak. More recently, researchers at the Virology Laboratory at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine's (CVM) Animal Health Diagnostic Center found that wild White Tail Deer (WTD) in New York state harbor significant reservoirs of mutated Covid viruses. These include three of the major Covid Variants of Concern (VOC) that previously circulated through human populations, including variants Alpha, Delta, and Gamma. As deer are the most common large mammal in North America, there is ongoing concern these viral reserves of Covid variants in deer populations could somehow remerge as a future threat to human health. The Current Outbreak Of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 Is A Risk To Humans And Animals Viral researchers have also long considered the risk of a mutated version of Avian flu to be a major health threat to human health. After all, the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 is thought to have stemmed from the H1N1 strain of the Avian influenza virus, killing an estimated 500 million people worldwide. To date, one person has come down with Avian flu. This threat remains top of mind for a couple of reasons. First of all, we are seeing a worldwide outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1. In North America, the USDA estimates that nearly 60 million birds have become infected, leading many commercial poultry farms to cull their flocks. Read more...https://formaspace.com/ End
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