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Researchers have often warned of the danger posed by viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. But only since the corona pandemic hit the world, humanity seems to have an idea of the consequences that so-called zoonoses can have. HIV, Ebola, or Sars – they all come from the animal kingdom. Corona, whose outbreak is believed to have originated in an animal market in China, is not the first zoonotic virus. And it is not the last.
As researchers from the Berlin Charité and the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) on Riems Island have now announced, transmission of the Seoul virus from an animal to a person has been detected for the first time in Germany. The virus, which belongs to the hantavirus family, was discovered in a domestic rat and its owner from Lower Saxony. The disease is common in Asia and is highly infectious. The young German became seriously ill and had to receive intensive care.
According to a communication from Charité and FLI, the virus genes in the patient and the rat were identical. “This confirms a disease through transmission of the pathogen from animals to humans,” said Jörg Hofmann, director of the national advisory laboratory for hantavirus in Charité. “The detection of another zoonotic pathogen in house rats once again underscores the need to monitor house rats for pathogens,” added Rainer Ulrich of FLI.
Transmission of the virus from Seoul could have an impact on the management of wild and domestic rats. “Until now, people only thought about hantavirus infections when they came into contact with mice. Now, you have to consider the possibility of an infection also when they come into contact with wild or domestic rats,” Hofmann said. Evidence in a domestic rat also means that the virus can be exported anywhere by selling these animals. Caution should be exercised when keeping rats.
The Seoul virus often leads to serious illness. It does not occur in mice. Transmission of this virus from rats to humans has already been documented in several cases outside of Asia. As reported by the Charité, the young patient from Lower Saxony had to receive intensive medical care for several days with symptoms of acute kidney failure.
The virus likely reached Europe via infected wild rats on ships, but it has never been observed in Germany, Hofmann said. The patient’s infected breeding rat was believed to have been imported into Germany from another country. He bought the animal two or three weeks before he got sick.
Killed by Borna virus
After several outbreaks, hantavirus diseases have been notifiable in Germany since 2001. The frequency of infections with these viruses varies between 200 and 3000 per year. That depends on the amount of rain, Hofmann said. If there is a lot of precipitation, the feeding situation of the mice is good and they reproduce vigorously. The virus is transmitted to humans through animal excretions.
But the researchers emphasize that most viruses in the animal kingdom are harmless to humans. However, there are always dramatic outbreaks, but they are mostly isolated cases. For example, squirrel breeders died a few years ago in Saxony-Anhalt. They had contracted the Borna virus in animals imported from South America, resulting in fatal encephalitis.
Human activities are crucial factors leading to the transmission of zoonoses. The expansion of urban regions or agriculture and the consequent decrease of habitat for animals or hunting and trade in wild animals.
