A new study published in the journal “Environmental Modeling” and prepared by researchers at the University of Tennessee shows the existence of a new ranavirus, similar to the virus 3 (FV3) frog.
The new ranavirus, called RCV-Z2, may, according to researchers who have developed a special model to predict its spread, spread equally rapidly in the population of tadpoles of North American forest frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), and transmission can be very effective through direct contact, through the necrophagous (feeding from the body of other infected people) or even through water.
Ranaviruses are pathogenic microorganisms that appear around the world and mainly affect reptiles, amphibians and fish, threatening the ecological diversity of these species and therefore the entire environment in which they live. To combat the emergence of the Ranavierus, which has become global, researcher Matt Grey founded and runs the Global Ranavirus Consortium.
Grey himself notes in a press release published on the website of the University of Tennessee: “In our previous work, we found that RCV-Z2 is a recombinant ranavirus with strain DNA in North America and strain DNA in Europe and Asia. We believe that these viruses mixed DNA on a frog farm in South Georgia, resulting in a very virulent hybrid virus. The purpose of the simulation was to demonstrate how the virus evolved from eastern hemispheric DNA and can infect and spread to amphibian species. The news is not very good.”
This is without taking into account the trade in amphibians and other wildlife that may be susceptible to these infections: with this trade, their pathogens can move around the world, which can make the infection truly global.
Latest posts by Janice Walker (see all)
- Researchers discover how malaria parasites prepare to infiltrate a body before mosquitoes bite it. - December 3, 2019
- The water level in the Mekong River is falling more and more due to the increasing number of hydroelectric power plants - November 30, 2019
- Highly intensive interval training is important for improving memory in older people - November 27, 2019