Transmission of infectious viruses in the natural setting at human-animal interface

• Published in: Current Research in Virological Science Vol. 2; p. 100008
• Main Authors: Nandi, Jayashree S., Rathore, Shravan Singh, Mathur, Bajrang Raj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 2021; The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V
• ISSN: 2666-478X; 2666-478X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.crviro.2021.100008

Most viral pathogens causing epidemics and pandemics are zoonotic, emerging from wildlife reservoirs like SARS CoV2 causing the global Covid-19 pandemic, although animal origin of this virus remains a mystery. Cross-species transmission of pathogens from animals to humans is known as zoonosis. However, pathogens are also transmitted from humans to animals in regions where there is a close interaction between animals and humans by ‘reverse transmission’ (anthroponosis). Molecular evidence for the transmission of two zoonotic RNA viruses at the human-monkey interface in Rajasthan forests is presented here: a) the apathogenic Simian Foamy Viruses (SFV), and b): Influenza A viruses (IAV)-like virus, etiologic agent for human flu infecting wild Indian rhesus monkeys inhabiting Rajasthan forests. The data provide critical information on ecology and evolution of viruses of Public Health relevance. During replication, viral genomes mutate along the transmission route to adapt to the new hosts, generating new variants that are likely to have properties different from the founder viruses. Wild Indian monkeys are under-sampled for monitoring infectious diseases mainly because of the difficulties with sample collection. Monkeys are perceived as religious icons by the Hindus in India. It is extremely difficult to obtain permission from the Forest and Wildlife Department government authorities to collect wild simian blood samples for surveillance of infectious diseases caused by viral pathogens. Reducing animal-human contact and affordable vaccination are two relevant anti-viral strategies to counteract the spread of infectious zoonotic pathogens. Genbank Accession numbers: Indian SFVmac: ADN94420, IAV like virus: MZ298601. [Display omitted] •Critical information on two novel zoonotic viruses is presented, unique Indian macaque Simian Foamy Virus (SFV) and H1N1 Influenza A viruses (IAV)-like virus infecting wild rhesus monkeys from the Rajasthan forests. Monkey bites are quite common in India. Although SFVs are apathogenic in vivo they cause cytopathic effect in target cells in vitro forming syncytia (Figs. 1-3).•Influenza viruses are transmitted from natural animal reservoirs like wild birds and pigs to humans via zoonosis. The data presented here however indicate a reverse transmission of H1N1 IAV from humans to rhesus monkeys, based on phylogenetic analyses of the conserved hemagglutinin gene sequences of IAV infecting Indian rhesus monkeys.