zoonotic diseases

Metagenomic sequencing can help detect unknown pathogens, but its widespread use faces challenges.

Bats that experience food shortages due to climate change and habitat loss end up roosting in urban settings, where they shed more of the deadly Hendra virus. 

The key to averting cataclysmic events, such as pandemics, climate change, and mass extinction of species, lies partly in what’s on our plates.

Parts of Southeast Asia where human and bat population densities are highest could be infection hotspots, a study finds.

Of the pathogens known to have infected humans, more than half may cause more widespread disease as a result of rising temperatures, precipitation changes, or other climate-related factors, a study finds.

Thirteen people with the illness have tested negative for Ebola and Marburg. The Tanzanian government continues to investigate the source.

Two strains of monkeypox have been detected in the US, suggesting the virus has been circulating in the country for some time, the CDC says.

Experts are scrambling to understand clusters of the normally rare disease that have been reported in Europe and North America in the last month.

Canadian researchers identify a highly mutated variant of the virus in white-tailed deer and link it to a human COVID-19 case in the region—though they emphasize that the infection risk to people is low.

Three studies that analyzed samples from Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market add to evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has zoonotic origins.

Researchers used sequencing data and phenotypic traits to predict which of 5,400 species were most likely to be susceptible to contracting and spreading the virus back to humans.

Multiple white tailed deer tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 likely transmitted from humans, a study finds, indicating the species could act as a reservoir for the virus.

A patient caught the rare disease in Nigeria before flying through two US airports, exposing more than 200 people from 27 states.

Two viruses from dogs and pigs were isolated from human patients, but neither was proven to cause severe disease or to transmit to other people.

A letter signed by 18 researchers argues that hypotheses about zoonotic spillover or accidental lab release both “remain viable” in the absence of additional evidence.

Researchers involved in a long-term project to identify viruses of concern have now assessed the risk factors that could help forecast which pathogens are the most likely to spillover from wildlife to people.

Sam Wilson discusses a user-friendly set of resources that he and his collaborators developed to aid labs pivoting to study COVID-19.