Zoonotic diseases and public health

Exploring dog-owner microbiota and bacterial pathogens in Southeast Asia

The paper analyzes dog-owner microbiota in rural Thailand to assess microbial diversity, shared taxa, and zoonotic potential, finding dogs have higher pathogen diversity and shared bacteria with owners, suggesting their role in zoonotic surveillance.

Intensive pine plantation management shapes infectious agent communities in the generalist rodent Apodemus sylvaticus, with consequences for zoonotic hazard

The paper examines how pine plantations affect infectious agent communities in wood mice, finding habitat-specific impacts on infection probability and host abundance with implications for zoonotic risk.

Widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection in free-ranging Neotropical bats suggests repeated human-to-bat spillback

The paper detects SARS-CoV-2 in wild Neotropical bats, showing repeated human-to-bat spillback rather than sustained bat-specific circulation.

Demographic turnover undermines herd immunity in sympatric free-roaming dogs and cats: implications for zoonotic disease control in urban sentinel sites

This study shows that high demographic turnover in free-roaming dogs and cats undermines herd immunity, requiring species-specific vaccination strategies in urban areas.

Inference of nodavirus zoonotic transmission networks from publicly available sequencing data

This study infers nodavirus zoonotic transmission networks and explores genetic diversity using publicly available sequencing data.

Viral metagenomics of synanthropic urban bats: a surveillance strategy for uncovering potentially zoonotic viruses

The study introduces a viral surveillance method using metagenomics in bats, offering a scalable, cost-effective model for operationalizing One Health surveillance, especially relevant to low- and middle-income countries.

Beyond biodiversity loss defaunation: cascades effects in zoonotic disease ecology

The paper proposes a defaunation-cascade framework to link human pressure to zoonotic disease dynamics, showing differential associations between pathogen types and environmental factors.

Widespread occurrence of bovine-like and new viruses in wild deer across the United States

The paper identifies diverse viruses in wild deer across the U.S., including known pathogens and new putative viruses, highlighting potential for pathogen spillover.

Ecological Cascades and Future Hantavirus Spillover Risk in a Changing Climate

This study projects future hantavirus spillover risks under climate change using ecological and machine learning models, identifying regions with increased infection potential.

Drivers of host-pathogen community assemblies in European forests and urban green spaces

The paper investigates how biodiversity and habitat changes affect pathogen communities in European forests and urban areas, finding that host diversity increases pathogen richness but urbanization reduces certain pathogens.

Genomes of Betacoronavirus gravedinis from white-footed mice in New York City and a phylogenetically weighted model of its probable distribution in North America

The paper sequences Betacoronavirus gravedinis from white-footed mice in NYC, identifies positively selected sites in the spike protein, and predicts its geographic distribution using phylogenetic and biodiversity data.

Discovery of a Novel Coltivirus in a Newly Identified Bat Bug Species (Heteroptera: Cimicidae) in Cambodia

This study identifies a novel coltivirus in a new bat bug species from Cambodia, highlighting the role of bat ectoparasites as potential reservoirs of zoonotic viruses.

Real-time genomic pathogen, resistance, and host range characterization from passive water sampling of wetland ecosystems

The paper presents a framework for real-time genomic characterization of pathogens, resistance, and host range in wetlands using passive sampling and nanopore sequencing, finding higher pathogen and AMR gene abundance in anthropogenically impacted sites.

Rat hepatitis E virus and novel paramyxoviruses in synanthropic rodents and shrews in Kenya

This study identifies zoonotic viruses in Kenyan rodents and shrews, including rat hepatitis E virus and novel paramyxoviruses, highlighting the need for genomic surveillance.

WildAlert: A Real-Time, AI-Driven Early Warning System for Wildlife Health and Ecological Threat Detection

WildAlert detects wildlife health anomalies using AI and real-time clinical data, identifying events like HPAI and algal blooms before confirmed outbreaks.

Wildlife trade drives animal-to-human pathogen transmission over 40 years

Legally traded wild mammals have higher odds (OR 2.72) of sharing pathogens with humans, and each 9 years in global trade adds roughly one human-shared pathogen.

Cross-species transmission of human hepatitis B virus to wild Neotropical primates

Sequenced HBV from wild Amazonian primates in a deforested, densely settled region matched human genotypes A and D, while pristine-forest monkeys were all negative, consistent with human-to-primate spillover.

Risk assessment of zoonotic viruses in urban-adapted wildlife

The paper assesses zoonotic virus risks in urban-adapted wildlife by analyzing viral diversity and zoonotic potential across seven species in 115 countries.

An innovative tool for non-invasive contact-free pathogen monitoring in animal saliva

This paper develops a non-invasive tool for collecting animal saliva to monitor pathogens, validated in mice and shelter cats, enabling RNA virus detection and discovery of rare species.

Viral Sentry AI (VirSentAI) - Automated Zoonotic Surveillance & Drug Repurposing Agent

VirSentAI automatically surveils new viral genomes and identifies potential drug repurposing candidates for zoonotic threats.

A wide diversity of viruses detected in African mammals involved in the wild meat supply chain

The paper reports the detection of 15 virus strains in 27 African wild mammal species and one domesticated species, highlighting new host ranges and potential zoonotic risks.

Viral surveillance of invasive mammals in New Zealand reveals unique viral lineages reflecting their introduction history

The paper surveys viruses in New Zealand's introduced mammals, identifying novel species and showing geographic clustering and potential reverse zoonotic transmission.

Biodiversity databases as underutilized resources for pathogen discovery: a quantitative synthesis of bat and rodent tissue collections in natural history museums

This paper assesses how biodiversity databases can be used for pathogen discovery by analyzing tissue samples from bats and rodents in natural history museums.

Host competence-abundance relationships drive the dilution effect across multiple small mammal-borne pathogens

The paper examines the dilution effect of host diversity on small mammal-borne pathogens, finding pathogen-specific patterns influenced by host competence and abundance.

Viral epidemic potential is not uniformly distributed across the bat phylogeny

The paper identifies bat subclades with high viral epidemic potential and links them to regions with high zoonotic risk.

Integrating zoonotic pathogen spillover risk into Life Cycle Assessment: Probabilistic method development for chicken farming

This paper develops a probabilistic method to integrate zoonotic pathogen spillover risk into Life Cycle Assessment for chicken farming, focusing on avian influenza in Brazil and the US.

Museum collections and machine learning guide discovery of novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses

The paper uses machine learning to screen museum tissues for novel coronaviruses and paramyxoviruses, recovering sequences from archived samples and identifying new host species.

Insectivores exhibit superior microbial transmission efficiency and elevated zoonotic risk by 2035 relative to rodents and bats

This study compares microbial transmission efficiency and zoonotic risk among insectivores, rodents, and bats, finding insectivores have superior transmission and higher zoonotic risk by 2035.

The macroecology of viral coinfection

The paper analyzes viral coinfection patterns in wildlife using the PREDICT dataset, finding rare but significant coinfections linked to host age, species, and sampling biases.

Spatial risk of disease transmission between wild bovids and livestock in Thailand

The paper identifies high-risk areas for disease transmission between wild bovids and livestock in Thailand by analyzing habitat suitability and cattle density overlaps.